I am thrilled for this conversation with expert guest Audrey Stimpson.

If you have been tuned into the podcast and my social media, you know that I have been struggling with my energy, mood and all of the things recently, so having Audrey on the podcast was an informational gift.

In our conversation I wanted to pick Audrey’s brain about the underlying physiological factors that play a role in how we feel, how to pinpoint the root causes, and where we can start making meaningful changes to heal ourselves.

But before we get into our juicy topics today, let me formally introduce Audrey:

Audrey Stimpson is a Certified Functional Nutrition Counselor specializing in ADHD, autism, autoimmune, hormonal imbalances, and gut-brain health. 

Originally an internationally published master fashion photographer by trade, Audrey has now made it her sole mission to share her story of overcoming her 23 year Adderall dependence, using a functional nutrition approach with focus on gut healing. Audrey truly believes that in healing our gut-brain connection and focusing on the root cause, we can live a life free from stimulants, brain fog, pain, and IBS. 

To kickstart our conversation I was curious - how did Audrey transition from fashion photography to functional nutrition to begin with?

Audrey noted that having been diagnosed at the age of 7 with ADHD, she was thrust into the world of medication and found herself getting really sick. Her relationship with stimulants and other medications to ease side effects got to an unmanageable place. She knew that if she continued down the same path she was going to die. 

in her decision to take back control over her health, Audrey ended up healing herself through a more functional approach.

This included taking a look at her diet, lifestyle, trauma, stress, gut health, sleep, blood work, and everything in-between. She became drawn to learning more about functional nutrition and she wanted to share her newly found information with others. 

So let’s get specific here – what does functional nutrition even mean?

Functional nutrition is focused on looking at the whole person, and using nutrition to help optimize the functioning of your cells and body. 

It’s about inflammation, epigenetics and genetics, lifestyle factors, and how they are all working collectively.

On her own path to healing Audrey’s first step was removing the stressors from her life, because too much stress negatively impacts our metabolism, energy, hormones, neurotransmitters, and more. This was then followed by healing her gut with a 30-day reset, giving her body the nutrients it was lacking, and addressing her emotional trauma. 

now you may be wondering – what’s the deal with gut health?

We’ve heard about it over and over, but why is it such a topic of conversation? How did it make such a difference for Audrey?? A few areas that Audrey highlights with her clients:

• The “gut-brain connection” is exactly that – the brain and the gut are connected, and the gut is referred to as our second brain.

• 90% of serotonin (our feel-good hormone) is produced in the gut, and 70% of our immune system stems from the gut.

• Most of our DNA is microbial, which means that without good gut bacteria we can’t create neurotransmitters or hormones, fight inflammation, etc.

• Our vagus nerve is linked from the brain to the gut, and this links to our parasympathetic nervous system (also known as our “rest and digest”).
  

The bottom line – what we put in our mouth and gut is going to affect what is going on in our gut and our brain. It’s freaking IMPORTANT, friends!

While all of this information can seem super daunting, Audrey notes that a simplified place to start in your own health journey is to notice how you feel after eating specific foods and work toward eliminating inflammation. This includes cutting out stressors, setting boundaries, and making helpful changes to our lifestyle via diet, sleep, and hydration. Some additional helpful habits that we can gradually adopt: 

• Buying organic, grass-fed, pasture-raised foods, and avoiding the “dirty dozen”

• Filtering your water

• Reading labels

• Removing preservatives and dyes 

• Avoiding foods that have more than 5 ingredients

• Ordering from places like Thrive market 

• Replacing seed oils with coconut oil, avocado oil, olive oil, grass-fed butter or ghee  

• Adding in more good fats

• Making healthy swaps 

• Including fat, fiber, and protein in every meal
  

If you are feeling overwhelmed at this point – know that you are not alone! We can take baby steps toward meaningful change. But the reality is that in order to heal ourselves, we have to build awareness around what we eat. We can’t be in the dark anymore. We have a responsibility as humans to make better decisions for life on this planet. 

And we can start by noticing how our food and lifestyle makes us feel. 

To connect with Audrey –

Visit her website: https://www.audreystimpson.com/

Follow her on Instagram: @audreystimpson

Subscribe to her Youtube: @audreystimpson2800

Connect on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AudreyStimpsonBlog

Take care of yourselves and therefore each other!

xo, brooke jean