Episode 78 – It’s a Gut Thing!

This is Rebecca Clark. Episode 78 It’s Ah, gut thing with Renee Clark. Wimer things Podcast is for anyone that knows they haven’t yet found and offered up their best work, but are compelled to seek it out and do it. Are you ready to move your guest? Hello, my friends. Today I’m excited to talk to you with another guest and it is my sister. So full disclosure up front. She invited me to participate in a three day health challenge this week. And so I thought, Why not? I’m trying to get my health and order so I can offer up my best work. And so I participated in it. And I was surprised by how it was very easy to tell that certain supplements that I put into me actually helped me feel better immediately. And so that was really interesting to be part of. And even though I only use a few supplements for my health, I’m learning Thean Porton so of the continuous process of learning about it from other people. And resource is because at this point in life, it does make a difference. And how I feel and how I’m able toe work. And so I’ve invited Renee Clark Wimmer on the podcast today. Hello, Renee. Hello. It’s hopefully our voices will sound different enough that you’ll understand us. But I was excited to have Renee on because she’s been kind of on this journey for a while and just as a little bit of background. She actually graduated in her undergrad years ago and travel and tourism so she knows how to plan a trip. But she also got into floral design, and she loves interior design also, and she did a lot of substitute Teaching was even a permanent sub for different courses. That a vocational school, and she knows some Spanish. So she did some of that, too. But she’s gone through another journey with her health. That is kind of what we’re gonna be talking about today. So she’s going to share with us her health journey and some other tips about health. So, Renee, you weren’t always studying nutrition and about health in the body. I don’t think what kind of got you started on this? Well, actually, the only science I’ve ever liked is studying the human body all through elementary school, High school college. That’s the only thing that really intrigued me about science, All the other things I just slogged through. Oh, but the human body just fascinated me. But, um, really, It all started after I had four babies in quick succession of each other, and I suddenly found myself in kind of a deep, dark place. I had four babies within 5. 5 years, and that’s really quick. And that does something to your body. And I didn’t realize that at the time I was just young and, you know, have having this family really quick. And suddenly I found myself in a deep, dark depression. I had major panic attacks. I had deep anxieties. Things just bothered me that hadn’t bothered me before. You know, if people were going to come over to visit all this, you know, I get everything ready and I’d have food, I’d had the house clean, and all the sudden, like, five minutes before they showed up, I’d be like, I can’t do this, And I’d go run up to my room and lock myself in my room and cry and let my husband take care of it, and just I would do that sometimes all day long. Even with my own kids. I go downstairs in the basement and cry all day long and just bring my hands. And I feel like there was no way out and it was awful. And sometimes I didn’t even, you know, I didn’t know what my kids were doing. I it was really bad. And for the first time I realized, you know, depression, Israel, whereas before I just kind of was like, Oh, whatever you can get over it But I also was like, what happened? What has triggered this response in me and people and doctors would be like, Oh, it’s postpartum, it’s baby blues But it was just lasting for months and months and months, and the doctors were all like, Oh, well, you know, you can have something for that and we have stuff, We have medication and it’s fine. It’s okay if you need it and all these things, But no one ever really said why other than, oh, it’s normal. That’s just how it goes. So I was like, No, I’m not going to do medication, that that’s not me. I don’t need that. And then finally, after about 6 to 8 months of that. I thought maybe I do need some help. So I went to the doctor and I said, Yes, I need help. I can’t do this anymore. And I was prescribed a low dose of medication for anxiety. Depression. Anyway, for the next 10 years or so 8, 10 years, I kind of went on this up and down, taking medications, not Oh, I’m fine. I don’t need them. Oh, wait. Yes, I do need them. But every time going to these doctors, no one, none of them really seemed to answer the question. Why? What has happened? What changed within my body that is making me this way? Because I don’t feel like I was this way before. No one really gave me any answers. And it was all the answers were just all Oh, here, let me look through my list of medications that are for depression, anxiety, panic attacks, um, exhaustion, things like this. And I’m like, it’s just I feel like I should be having some blood tests or some hormonal tests or something, like give me some tests to tell me, you know, show me some stats or something, but no one really ever did. Finally, after and I should say here, too. I had two more babies. So I have six Children total. And after my last baby was about eight months old, it was so bad that, you know, I had relationships that were failing. I had just a lot of stress and strain going through my mind. My body and I found myself very overweight, very exhausted all the time. I even at a point, couldn’t even walk up my stairs without huffing and puffing for air. Just was like my word. I’m 34 I can’t go up the stairs, you know, just ridiculous on I even walked with a cane sometimes. Wow, I can’t believe that now that I think of it. But I thought this is just not how my life is supposed to be. It just can’t be this way. This is not normal. So I finally at this low low point and even my husband was like, You know what you need to do something. I don’t really care how much it costs. Do whatever it takes. And so at that point is when my friend introduced me to a nutritionist and I went to her, and for the first time, someone finally told me what was going on inside my body. And it was your off balance. We need to get you back in balance and okay, what does that mean? Well, especially for women, but I mean the supplies to everyone. When you’ve not taking care of your body in healthy ways, it gets off balance. So especially for me having all these Children quickly, my body did not have time to recover from each one of those. And so it was stressed. It was constantly trying to seek balance. And it couldn’t because well, because of what I learned from the nutritionists was that gut health is where the source and the root cause most of your health issues are. And no one had ever told me that before. And so she helped me understand how the body works and what we needed to do to get it back into a healthy balance. You know, it’s interesting when you share this because as you’ve shared pieces in part of the story, I realized that I was clueless sister over here because I feel like I Onley remember when you said. Oh, I’m seeing a nutritionist because I need some help. I think there was a lot of suffering in silence, and maybe you shared with just a couple of people. And then sometimes part of it may not even be hiding. Maybe part of it’s just you are just playing all consumed with whatever is happening in that moment of time and the bodies just trying toe survive, right? You’re just trying to survive one day at a time and everything. So when you shared this story, I’m like, Oh, I know when you started with a nutritionist because it was like a light bulb went on, You’re like, Oh, there’s away. There’s a path almost like we’re going to stop putting band AIDS on. We’re gonna get to a root cause of something. And then, of course, you get to this. You are all about gut health if you see your Facebook posts and I’ll put a link to one of your groups or whatever, Renee is always talking about the importance of gut health and how that’s like a second brain, or is it the first brain? I don’t know. It’s part. It’s an important part of everything. So can you tell us a little bit about what you’ve learned that you think would help people that air trying Thio get themselves right So they feel right so they don’t have to walk with a cane at 34 years old, if they don’t want Thio and be able Thio offer whatever they want to the world. Okay, So what I’ve learned is that basically your gut is where it all starts. So when I say gut, I’m talking about the digestive system in particular your intestine. Your intestine is where everything is absorbed into your bloodstream. So I mean, there are things that you can have absorbed in your mouth under your tongue. But for the most part, everything that you take in is processed in your digestive system. And then from there the body uses it. The gut is actually connected to everything, every system in your body. So a lot of times or recently, I should say scientists are referring to it as your second brain because your gut is like it’s like a miniature garden in there. It’s full of good growing microbes. There’s also a lot of bad. So if you think of your garden outside. You know, you’re you’re preparing the soil. You’re feeding it nutrients. You’re giving it water. You’re putting good seeds in that soil. I’m planting them water sunshine. You’re protecting it with certain measures, but you also have to go in there all the time and weed out. There’s always gonna be weeds. It’s That’s just how it is. There’s always going to be this this bad component thes things we don’t want. It’s the same thing with your gut. There’s basically in simple terms. There’s good bacteria, and there’s bad bacteria. And when the bad bacteria are way outnumbering the bad and just like your garden with weeds, what’s gonna happen? The weeds air going to choke out. You’re good plants, and you are going to struggle to get some good fruits or vegetables out of it. So the same is with your gut. When you’re bad, bacteria is just overtaking your gut. You are not gonna have very good fruits from your gut garden. You are going to end up with aches and pains. You’re gonna end up needing a nap every day. You’re gonna be like I don’t have any energy White. Why am I not sleeping? Well, I can’t wake up in the morning. And when I do, I I feel like I haven’t slept all night or all I want is sugar. Which bad bacteria thrives on sugar. It loves sugar. And the more you feed it, the more it will multiply. And it will just control you. When there’s this off balance, it has a ripple effect throughout your body and things will happen. You know, I mentioned some just now, but there are more serious things that happen when your gut is off balance like this. You your hormones are affected. Your circulatory system could be affected. Your muscles, your brain function, even your lungs. Things like asthma stem from poor gut health things that you wouldn’t even suspect, right. Like in my case, depression and anxiety. No one out there is telling you that depression and anxiety is because your intestines air off like No, they’re giving you drugs for your brain. But 90% of your serotonin is produced in your gut. And uh huh you know, serotonin is that feel good hormone. So things that you would not even suspect that are related. Thio that got garden that balance in your body. If it’s off, it will be affected. And anyway, so that was for me. That was amazing, because here I have been taking medications to treat the brain. And yet my nutritionist is saying, Oh, no, you’ve got Candida overgrowth, which is a bad bacteria. We’ve got to get this gut in balance. This will also affect your adrenal glands, which will affect your thyroid thes air. All what? Produce your get up and go, You know, motivation, feel good, happy hormones. And this is where we need to start. And so understanding that and realizing that was just amazing to me and life changing so that I don’t take medication anymore. And it has changed me so much for the good that I want to push other people to understand the importance of the gut, that that’s where it all begins. You know, I’m not saying Okay, stop your medications. You don’t need them. No, but you do need to focus on balancing that bacteria in your gut, having good health on fitness habits, and you will be amazed how it will propel you forward in always. It’s amazing when when you have good health. You have this good mindset. You have the motivation and the desire to go towards positive progress. Prop positive movement forward. Whereas when your gut is off balance, you feel controlled by some unknown source. And that’s how I had felt before. Like what is happening? This isn’t me. What is happening inside of me? I feel like I’m not myself. And it stopped me. So it is. It’s crucial in my mind and in my studying and on my health journey that getting your gut in balance, we’ll just have this ripple effect and you will feel and find balance in all areas of your life. Well, I love that. And you alluded to it earlier. Well, and later, the earlier how on your eight or 10 years you were talking about where you would take medicine and they’re like, Oh, no, I’m fine and you’ll get off of it. And then you get back on. And then later in the conversation, where you mentioned healthy habits and what I really like about the approach you’ve been taking as you share nutrition tips with people and stories and just information about minerals, vitamins, all that stuff that you talk about how this is not an overnight thing, and I think that’s interesting. Most of us really do wanna lose £10 per week or like we want to feel better immediately, even if we are sneaking into our cookies. But you point out that no, this is a process, and I find it fascinating because some of us, you know, think that Oh, it’s completely normal to brush your teeth every day. But, oh, I wouldn’t want to take a supplement every day or I wouldn’t want to do this exercise everyday like there’s some things we do every day and we just do them. But other things were bothered that we would have to keep up this habit in order to change ourselves, even though, like you’ve mentioned in post, it took you 30 years to gain the weight, and now you want it off in two months. That’s not how we dio. That’s not how it works. And so I like that you tell people up front. The expectation is this will take time, but if you do it, you will see a difference in your life. But I thought it was great that I saw a difference just in a couple of days and like, Wow, wait, I’m kind of focused. Oh, wait a second. I have higher energy than I usually have right now, And it felt good because using your words, I hadn’t felt like me. But then I was like, This is how I want to feel. This is how I know I felt before, and it’s good to catch a glimpse that you can feel it again. And then when you feel it, like you said, you have a good mind set, you start moving forward and seeing a difference in life. So what I think is interesting about your journey right now is that you have combined your love of learning about the human body and nutrition and going through this journey with business. Right? You kind of you are selling health products, but you’re also on your personal journey and you’re just experiencing it all together. Can you tell us a little bit about how that part of the journey is going? Kind of combining your love of health and nutrition with new work? Sure. Okay, First of all, I need Thio say that I learned an incredible amount of amazing information from my nutritionist and she She wasn’t just a person who came into her office. She measured you. She analyzed you with various methods. She told you and walked you through everything that she was doing and the why and how everything was connected. And it was like getting a nutrition and physiological lesson all in one. It was amazing. So I loved her passion for that. And I just thought, Man, that’s I want to be able to help people the same way that she’s helped people. And because I feel amazing. I want other people to feel amazing, too. So I found a company that I really love and has great products and teaches the same things that this nutrition has taught me. And so I really grasped onto it quickly because it was familiar. It made sense. It was everything I had been learning for the previous 8 to 10 years, and it just all kind of fell into place. I never thought I would be doing this. It’s something that I thought, Wow, this is really out of my comfort zone because I am selling products ultimately, but I am also trying to help people learn how their body works. What’s going on, what happens when it’s not working and trying to find out, You know, the best possible solutions. So it’s been an interesting journey because it’s out of my comfort zone. I’ve had Thio be on social media a lot more than I ever expected myself to be and, you know, saying things to the world that I never thought I would sharing my story, sharing other peoples story, sharing scientific knowledge. And again, I’m still learning. I’m not an expert, I’m still on a journey, but I think that that’s how health is. You can apply that same principle to health and to business like you should constantly be learning. It’s a constant process. It’s not. Oh, I succeeded. I’m here, I’m done. It’s not that way. And I have people ask me that were like, Well, when do I get to this point? When do I do? I have toe take these things for the rest of my life and I’m like, Well, yes, you dio and it Z you know, back to the garden thing. It’s You have to continue to take care of your garden if you don’t you know you might be able to go a couple of days without doing anything to your garden? Right? But it’s going to need water. It’s going to need sunshine. It’s gonna need a fence around it, or it’s gonna need some sort of plant food or pulling weeds. Or it’s just a constant process. It never ends. And to some people, that might sound daunting. Well, and listeners don’t realize you have a garden that you are dealing with every day. In fact, today there’s gonna be frost. So there had to be things done to the garden to make sure that tomatoes air protected. Yes, that’s true. You have to just You have to constantly be kind of battling this opposition. It’s It’s in the world around us. It’s in our businesses. It’s in our lives, our families, our friends, our health. There’s always this opposition, this flow between good and bad, and we’re constantly in life trying to find a balance, and I don’t think you can really, ever you can achieve it. But you’re not going to stay there long because you imagine yourself on that teeter totter. You’ve got to constantly be adjusting and making sure that you’re staying as balanced as possible. I’m sitting here thinking about how people say, Am I gonna have to do this the rest of my life? And you realize that we have to ask ourselves different questions? Because when you said that, I thought, I never have asked myself, Am I gonna eat cookies the rest of my life like I just feel like, Yes, I am like this. How hard can this be on yet? I would not be as willing to say that about something that’s helping my health. That may cost more than a cheap cookie. And yet it’s for my body, which is something that’s a mechanism that’s supposed to help me accomplish anything I do in this life. And why is that even a discussion in my head, like or a choice or whatever. So, um, I’m gonna have to do this the rest of my life. Yes, this is what I’m signing up for do to take care of myself and just realizing, Oh, there’s so many things in society or we’re taught somehow that something’s air okay and other things air this extra. That’s something we should only do if we have extra time or money when really, that’s the thing we should do to take care of ourselves. And so it’s neat to see also how the trials and challenges the opposition you’re talking about in life has actually helped you propel forward in combining something that helps you personally into your work. So it’s kind of bringing it all together, and then you get to be an example of what’s possible when you try to get that balance. So you try to figure out what’s wrong and you learn all this stuff in the process. So that’s inspiring, I think. Oh, wait a second. These challenges in our lives sometimes have a very distinct purpose and can help us in bigger ways than we ever thought. And you were going to have this thriving business as you keep on this journey and continue moving your desk and up leveling. I was going to say to that I think in somehow were taught that self care is not a priority like Oh, that’s selfish or no, there’s You shouldn’t waste time on yourself. You should get to work and get going and, yeah, we do have things in life like I don’t know. I’m thinking of when you’re younger, you know you’re participating in sports. You’re you’re trying new things, but there’s such a negative connotation about taking care of yourself. Especially, I think when you get older, maybe maybe in college or when you’re young, it’s like, Oh, yes, all you really need to worry about is yourself because you have other people taking care of the other things that you don’t realize like your mortgage or the bills or that sort of thing. But as you grow and you have all these other life stresses that you need to worry about, those become a priority on you kind of live for those, and it’s like, Wait a second, and then you you know, you have this disconnection and then suddenly you find yourself £50 overweight and dragging around and maybe other health issues, and you’re like, what happened? Well, life happened as people say, and you’ve put yourself on the back burner when you realize that you’re not going to be putting forth any good work. If you don’t take care of yourself first, that’s when you get to a point like Oh, I need to do something. That’s where I waas. I had kind of hit this rock bottom and was like, What is happening to me? I have been putting everything else before me and I needed Thio start over and get back to taking care of my health. I don’t know who said it, but they There’s a phrase that says If you don’t have your health, you have nothing and self care is super important. You said We brush our teeth every day. We way eat food. We sleep hopefully, but there needs to be more. We need thio kind of change our mindset in that it’s not a quick fix. Its daily little things, little steps, things like going to bed maybe an hour earlier, taking a walk with no one else. Go on a walk by yourself or read a good book or I’m religious. I pray I read Scripture. I tell myself, Positive affirmations. I do some stretching and have these thoughts in my head. These air, all good self care things. Maybe it’s taking a nice hot absence Salt bath a couple of times a week. I don’t know what whatever is something that you do for yourself. that rejuvenates you and I do now with my work is let’s get your gut in balance with the proper nutrition, water exercise and the right supplements. You know, I like this discussion on self care because I think that all of us have learned a lot about what that actually means over the years, like everything you talked about, like sharing all the different examples I think was important because I know in the past I thought this and maybe some people still dio when someone says, Oh, I’m going to take care of myself I think of people that look like high maintenance right, the hair, the nails that make up the clothes that everything sends off the appearance of. I am taking a lot of care of myself, and I may not be taking care of anyone else or worrying about anything else. And that’s been something fun toe learn over the years that oh, there’s a balance there to some people are very good at this, but there’s a lot of us that air on Lee good at it some of the time, and I discovered actually that it doesn’t sound very fun to me to take baths multiple times a week. That’s not my kind of self care that if you say Rebecca, you have time alone for two hours toe walk in the sunshine and listen to your favorite podcaster books. That is vacation. To me, that is huge self care, Like what? I get to be alone and listen to a book and walk. So I’m getting exercise, son, and my brain is being fed. And you’re the one that convinced me to go get my nails done one time and it was wonderful, but it wasn’t wonderful to the point that I scheduled another appointment. Right? S so realizing that self care, you get to decide what that means for you. And as you’re sharing, ah, huge part of self care would be making sure that you’re healthy and strong so you can offer up your best work. So, do you have any parting thoughts you would like to share with our listeners? I think the biggest thing I’ve learned is that anything good takes time. It takes consistency and it takes commitment. You can’t plant a seed and expect to have an apple in a week. It just doesn’t happen. And you can’t fulfill your gut with probiotics and then the next day expect yourself to be healthy and I’m immune to everything. It’s just that’s not how it works. Were upset if our two day shipping didn’t happen, you know, But good things take time and they take commitment and they take consistency, just doing the things over and over and over and even learning about those things. Why are these good things even adding to them, changing it up a little bit as long as you’re still being consistent at them? One of the hardest things in my work is that well, with clients is is this concept You’ve got to give it time. You’ve got to be patient, you’ve got to just keep working at it, and that applies to our businesses to or are learning. You just have to keep going, and my child, she wants me to give her a math answer right away. And I’m like, No, we’re going to sit town and figure it out. I’m not going to hand it to you, because if I dio in the future, it’s not gonna do you any good. And I think that’s the same with these quick fix things you can’t expect to get any growth from them or very minimal. It’s the things that you really have to work at and you really have to commit to and be patient with. Those were the things that you’re gonna learn the most from, and you’re going to be the healthiest from, and that’s just all there is to it. There’s no magic bullet. There’s no magic pill. There’s no magic formula. You got to commit to something and just work at it over and over, step by step, little by little. And it’s amazing to think right now, like Wow, what could I look like or feel like in six months from now? And you taught me this, or what would I be doing now? That would make me change in six. You know, would that would show me that change in six months, and I have to remind myself all that the time in my work, too, because sales I’m in health coaching. It’s work. It’s a lot of work, and I don’t see I don’t see the fruits of my labors very immediately. Occasionally it will happen, but most the time. It’s months and months of working at it every day. And I guess that’s moving your desk. You’re just inching forward every day and you don’t stop right? It doesn’t stop. That’s such good advice. I need to hear that. And I think what you’re saying. Yeah, you keep inching your way and then once in a while, there’s a very easy ramp you could to slide down. Otherwise, it’s inching along. So thank you for sharing your experience and your insights. Today, we’ll put some links in the show notes. If anyone’s interested in participating in a health challenge or connecting with you on Facebook, which is where you do most of your stuff. And in Instagram, she shares a lot of deep insights into health and nutrition. So you’ll want to follow her. So we’ll put that in the show notes because she spells Renee differently. Or shall I say it was spelled for her differently than the average Renee. Okay, friends have a great week and get working on that gut. Talk to you soon. Yeah, thanks for listening to the show today. If you enjoyed it, I’d love if you’d write a review and share the show with your friends, sign up for a weekly nudge at move your desk dot com. See you next Monday. Mhm