The Awakening Spaces Podcast - Conscious Construction for a Healthy Home
Awakening Spaces explores the profound connection between our physical environments and our inner consciousness. We guide homeowners, designers, and wellness seekers beyond simply discussing "toxin-free" building methods to examine who we actually become on our "toxin-free" journey.
In this podcast we’re not only talking about windows, walls, and wiring. Through expert interviews, case studies, and actionable guidance, we will explore how mindful design choices affect our relationships, stress levels, and overall well-being. Drawing from my background in design, building biology, and building science I guide listeners through both the practical and philosophical aspects of creating homes that elevate our health and consciousness.
Each week, you’ll receive grounded guidance and actionable tips to help you eliminate the stress and overwhelm of finding, renovating, building, or maintaining your healthy home—so that you can create a space that truly supports who you are becoming.
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The Awakening Spaces Podcast - Conscious Construction for a Healthy Home
Episode 05: The Missing Piece to Healing your Gut with Hannah Aylward
In this episode, Ashley sits down with functional nutritionist Hannah Aylward to uncover the overlooked layers of gut healing that go far beyond food. Hannah opens up about her years of bloating, food restriction, and frustration despite following all the “right” dietary rules—and the surprising root causes that finally shifted her health.
From mold exposure and heavy metal toxicity to mineral imbalances and the role of the nervous system, Hannah brings a grounded, evidence-based perspective to why so many people stay stuck, even on a perfect diet. She shares what worked, what didn’t, and how she helps clients heal without endless restriction or fear of food.
Whether you’re dealing with reflux, rashes, IBS, or lingering inflammation, this conversation offers both fresh insight and practical tools to address the deeper factors affecting your digestion—while giving you hope that your body isn’t broken, it’s protecting you.
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Ashley helps you renovate and build healthier homes to prevent future health issues from arising from your environment. Whether you’re searching for a new home, assessing concerns with your current one, or embarking on a renovation or new build, Awakening Spaces can guide you every step of the way.
Ashley brings her background in Building Biology and Building Science and years of hands-on experience helping families reduce mold, chemical exposure, and EMFs in their living spaces. Her clients gain homes that are not only functional and beautiful, but truly support their well-being and peace of mind.
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CONNECT WITH HANNAH
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Hannah Aylward is a Certified Holistic Health Coach, functional gut health practitioner and the founder of HAN, a functional nutrition practice that helps women around the world overcome chronic digestive issues utilizing functional nutrition, targeted supplementation, and advanced lab work.. After struggling with her own chronic digestive issues for years, Hannah dove headfirst into the latest in gut health research, seeking answers to her bloating, food sensitivities, and pain. With her science-backed formula, Hannah has overcome her own digestive issues and helped hundreds of other women around the world do the
Hey friends, welcome back to the Awakening Spaces podcast. Today we have a very special guest, Hannah Aylward. She is a gut health practitioner and she is helping women who have tried everything, who've done it all, who have been struggling to heal and cannot get to the root of their persistent gut issues. But Hannah is taking it one step further. She's really looking at things holistically and today she's going to share with us how she helps people heal their chronic digestive issues, and you're not going to want to miss this one. If you're anything like me, I know I had my own story with chronic digestive issues, and it was really a big piece of the puzzle that led me to the work that I do today. So stay tuned for this episode. I can't wait for you to learn more, and let's dive in. All right. I'm going to do like a guest intro outside of this and stuff, but... Um, yeah, I guess I'll just, uh, start by like introducing you. Uh, I'm like so unprepared for this. I'm not going to lie.
SPEAKER_01:Okay.
SPEAKER_02:Um, okay. Hey, Hannah. Welcome. I'm so excited to have you here. I would love for you to share a little bit more about who you are, what you do, and maybe take us through a moment in your own gut health journey where you realized that something was really off and And that's what sort of set what you do in motion for you.
SPEAKER_01:Yes. I'm so excited to be on the podcast. Thanks for having me. Yeah. So for anyone that isn't really familiar with who I am, my name is Hannah Elward and I am the founder of Han. And at Han, we really help women overcome chronic digestive issues by taking a functional root cause approach to repairing the gut. And we see really just a lot of like chronic GI issues. So severe bloating, quote unquote IBS, it could be reflux. flux, constipation, diarrhea, lots of different food sensitivities and reactions, histamine overload. And with all of that, we do see quite a bit of mold and mold exposure and kind of mold toxicity playing a role. So that's really what we do. How I got into this work was I probably like a lot of people, I struggled with my own issues and no one could really figure them out. And I was kind of the girl that like all my friends knew as the healthy one. I was eating super clean. I don't think I I ate gluten or dairy for like a full decade. And that's not an exaggeration. And I was just like living on elimination diets and doing like detoxes and cleanses and different programs. And I was still dealing with this like chronic bloating to the point where I looked like six months pregnant at the end of the day. And it was starting to really like deeply impact my life. And if anyone struggles with that, they know that the bloating obviously sucks. But I mean, it really starts to mess with like your mental health. your confidence, like you start canceling plans, you don't want to eat out and then you start fearing food. So then like my relationship with food that was already rocky from like years of chronic dieting and restrictive eating was then just like exacerbated, right? Because I was like, now I'm afraid of these foods because they're quote unquote not healthy or because they set off my bloating or whatever. So I had just like truly deeply felt like I had done it all. Like I was like taking out gluten, taking out dairy, tried enzymes, done like taking berberine, taking oregano oils, taken L-glutamine so many different times, um, and done all of these things. And I was like looking into this functional, functional medicine approach to quote unquote, heal the gut. And I was like, I'm doing all this, like what is going on? And that's when I discovered that, you know, there's, there's more to the conversation than just like the food that you're eating. And then we can really deeply take like a targeted approach to repairing the gut. And that is what truly changed, changed my life and changed the game for me along with also really understanding that i did have mold exposure that was playing a role that i i was completely unaware of because that conversation was like not really happening you know that no one was really talking about that so i was i was really focused on like my food my food my food and i i do believe that nutrition and food is so incredibly powerful but i was like if i just eat perfectly everything's gonna go away and and then you know i will quote unquote decrease inflammation and i will you know all of these things like gluten's inflammatory and areas inflammatory and all this stuff and there's a time and place for all of this but it wasn't really like working for me you know I was I was still like burping and I was I was I ended up being super sensitive to like alcohol which we know is not healthy for anyone but I would like I would throw up after having one drink you know it was oh yeah it was bad and then I and then I had this layer of like inflammatory weight so that I just like that couldn't budge and and no one really felt like they understood what I was going through because I have all been in a thin body it was it was more so like I feel like I'm like like bursting out of my skin almost which is like very much like inflammation and sometimes I hear clients say that to us too they're like I feel I don't know how to describe this other than like a sausage casing and I'm like no that's inflammation like that yes that's when we go yeah so I was just kind of like you know uh I have IBS and no one really knows what's going on and like clean up your diet and then it wasn't working and I did it all and and that's kind of how I got onto this path and found functional testing and really started to understand the gut microbiome. And that's why I just like kind of dedicate my life to this work today. Oh
SPEAKER_02:my gosh. And that is why I'm so happy to have you here because that was one of the biggest issues for me, you know, eight years ago was I couldn't go out without knowing where a bathroom was at. Like it was the gut issues were horrendous. And I did every single diet under the sun, very, very similar story to you and nothing was working. And it wasn't until I found a functional who was, you know, did some testing with me for mold. And we realized that had been playing a huge role in everything. And that's really what set me down this path. But then even, even removing the mold though, that wasn't enough, right? We need so many other things. And I learned that the hard way. So I love that you are like balancing all of that and really looking at it all from a very holistic perspective because it's so it's so needed. You know, you do need a good diet, but you also need to be looking at the environment, too.
SPEAKER_01:Absolutely.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. So what were some of the most surprising things that you discovered in your healing journey that maybe you weren't expecting, whether it's physical or emotional?
SPEAKER_01:Oh, my goodness. So much. It's like you're constantly feeling back the layers, you know, and honestly, like I still am today. Not that I really don't resonate with like being sick anymore. more like I feel like my body is incredibly resilient and I don't really have gut issues and I've I've like come such a long way but there's always like another deeper layer of of health and just kind of like evolution right because I and I say this to clients like your health is not this thing that you just like get to and you're just there and then you just stop right it's you're evolving your life is evolving your story is evolving and you don't you don't go to the gym once and then expect to like maintain a six-pack right thank you it's like consistency and upkeep and and that's not to sometimes I think that can feel overwhelming or like draining to people they're like oh my gosh I'm never going to get out of this but it kind of just becomes like a way of life and also I think just flipping the perspective of like what a gift it is that I get to get to know this body and learn this body and take care of this body and you know without your health nothing else nothing else really matters once your health takes a hit so there's I've learned so much and been surprised by so much and I feel like I'm always constantly learning and my team is always learning like I have a whole team of functional practitioners and we're always in additional trainings about a new thing or this thing or this layer of this and you know so it really doesn't end but um I do think that I really going back to the nutrition piece like I really thought that nutrition was gonna like like save me or like these elimination diets were gonna like save me and I think I had to learn I had to learn that there was just more to the story and I speak out about that so much because I I was the one on the restrictive diets for like a really long time and really believing that And then when they didn't work, I started to think I'm just broken. Like there's something, I'm going to be like this forever, you know, and no one, no one can figure it out. And that's, and that's that. And little did I know there were just like so many additional layers to it, like, like actual digestion. Are you digesting your food efficiently? And like, and minerals and toxin exposure and all these other things that were just kind of getting in the way of my body doing what it knows how to do naturally, you know? So I was very much like clean eating, all organic, gluten-free, dairy-free, you know, sugar-free, all of that, which is fine. You know, that's fine. But what do you do when that's not really like getting you to the, to that next level? So, um, I do think, you know, once again, like nutrition is so powerful and amazing and it is part of the foundations. It has to be, there's no way around that, but there's, you know, when you, for the person that feels like they're doing all of that, right. And they're still feeling bad. Like there's just other things to explore and that should feel Um, good. That should feel like, you know, reassuring because you're not broken. There's just like something, something else kind of getting in the way of your body fully healing. So I think that was surprising to me. And then mold. I mean, I was not taught anything about that. I didn't know anything about that. I mean, I would have, I would have thought that eating my, you know, gluten-free dairy-free veggie filled diet would have just taken care of it and it, and it didn't. And I was living in a lot of mold exposure and I had, I had no idea, like no idea. none, how that would impact my health. And I actually knew a ton about the gut at that point, but no one had really mentioned the toxin exposure piece. So I think understanding that and understanding that if you're living in an environment that's making you sick, the other stuff can't work to its fullest extent.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, no, absolutely. I'm curious, how often do you see people in your practice coming in with gut issues where there is an environmental piece or mold component to it like an underlying mold component like what percentage of people would you say actually have that underlying piece
SPEAKER_01:it's a good question um more than i would like more than i want to see um i always say like i did not want to become a mycotoxin like uh expert like i was not and i didn't i never wanted to work with mold um we had to we we had to start learning about it because people weren't it would stop people from getting better so it's it's definitely not in involved in everyone's case. And as, as I'm sure, you know, like there's nuance to it, exposure levels, uh, detoxification capabilities, other toxins that are filling your bucket nervous system. Right. So there's, it's a, it's a nuanced conversation. Um, so it's not, it's not the underlying root cause for everyone, but I would say probably like, gosh, I feel like we're seeing it more and more and maybe 20 or 30% of people. Um, we're running a lot of mycotoxin panels. Yeah. These days. And honestly, we're a lot of like metal like heavy metals now too which once again we never wanted to get into but we had to
SPEAKER_02:yeah how would you say in percentage of people with heavy metals are you seeing more like about the same percentage there
SPEAKER_01:our data may be skewed because we're really like not only now looking for it but now kind of you know that this like the overlapping symptoms of heavy metal exposure and mold exposure there's a lot like they can present very similarly so we're kind of digging into more testing it now. So it's possible that, um, we just weren't testing as much for it before. So I don't want to like, like, you know, skew, skew the data here, but, um, a smaller percentage, I do think mold is impacting people more, but like we just had, what was so interesting is we're seeing all of these clients. This is the first time I'm saying this in public. We're seeing all of these clients from California have really high uranium levels. I don't know if you can speak to that, but we're getting these tests back and like all of these people have high uranium and it, and we've gotten like six of them in a row. And, you know, yes, that's not like 3000, but I'm like, this is, this is a pat at this point, this is a pattern, you know? So, um, and then we're trying to figure out where it's coming from. So anyway, long, long winded way of saying that, but I would say a smaller percentage than mold, but maybe 10%. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:I would look into their water for sure. If you're seeing that because I know this is a really interesting thing that I learned about myself here in my water. I had a friend who does muscle testing and we were sitting together one day at lunch and she was muscle testing me and she said, you know, uranium and radon, it keeps coming up for you. She's like, you're getting exposed somehow. And I had installed a mitigation system in my home and I knew that my, my like indoor levels were you know, acceptable. And she grabbed my water bottle and she goes, I'm testing your water. And when you do a water test, like a general water test, they are not testing for the alpha and beta glucans from uranium. So you have to actually order that test separately. And it's really expensive. So I ended up getting that test and found out that I had actually had really high levels of uranium in my water. And so that is something that, you know, it's, it's not, you really straightforward, but definitely I would say checking water and making sure people are doing that test. But that's interesting that you're just seeing a cluster of that now more, you know, wonder what the coincidence is there. I
SPEAKER_01:know, I know. It's like, I don't want to, I'm like hesitant to mention it because I don't want anyone to be like scared or because we don't exactly know yet, you know, but it is a pattern that we're seeing, which is interesting. And a lot of these people are drinking filtered water, but maybe, you know, and even have like shower head filters and all of that and then we had another client actually who um she she got a lot better and then and then symptoms came back and for her it was specifically like this reflux and we had done all this gut work with her and then we found out that she she also tested high for one heavy metal i'm forgetting which one it was um and then back we like traced it back because you have to like you know you're like where is this coming from and where she was living in that area there was like a lawsuit because there was like a runoff situation or like a leak situation like in her area um and it got into the water and it was just you know it's not on like cnn or whatever so it's um but but she had gotten that exposure and then you know her body was struggling to to get those levels out once we brought those levels down you know she she's doing better now um so yeah i mean the environment is is playing a role and it's sometimes it can be hard to track down a little
SPEAKER_02:yeah so you you mentioned symptoms um you mentioned symptom overlap can you share a little bit about what some of those symptoms are, um, specifically environmental that maybe you're noticing as a pattern in your clients.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. So if there is, um, like mold exposure, you know, gosh, there's like, like a whole slew of things that can be associated with that. Um, things that will happen commonly with both heavy metal exposure and mold exposure is like the person just like, can't get better. Right. So it's like all of these inter interventions are all of our best interventions that are working on all of our other clients, like aren't quite working on them. So we're using these things. We're like optimizing digestion. We're taking bacteria levels down, all of that. And things still aren't budging for them. They still have digestive issues. They still have bloating. They still have reflux. Um, we'll see like headaches, migraines, um, with mold specifically, you know, you can get the like sinus issues. You can get like recurring sinus infections. Like if anyone says to me, they get recurring sinus infections and they've got issues. I'm like, we got to test for mold, you know? know um that's kind of like a a no-brainer to me and yes it's not the cause in every situation but that's that's a big one chronic skin stuff so like rashes and um even acne like that can be a big one um that once again like other interventions aren't aren't working on and then the other thing too is like sometimes we'll run these these uh like stool tests because we run we run a stool test on every client and we'll run functional stool testing and we'll see that the gut microbiome piece is actually not looking that off but they're presenting with all of these symptoms like like it could be full body symptoms right everything from like headaches to bloating to constipation to you know hair loss whatever um but the but the functional stool test is that actually doesn't look that bad so like when someone doesn't match the data that we're getting that's like a big flag for me too i'm like we've got to go digging it can be many things could be biofilms it could be other stuff but um i'm like that's when my brain starts going okay, maybe there's like a toxin exposure. So if anyone's done some of that and you've explored some of that and you've gotten like the jam app, for example, and then you're like, well, there's not really that much to address on it, but like, I'm so sick, you know, what's going on. I would start looking into toxins, but yeah. Like a lot of skin stuff, hypothyroidism, Hashimoto's like the toxin exposure. There's, there's not always, but very commonly a toxin exposure component to that. Um, and then yeah, chronic GI issues and skin stuff is what we see a lot. And then anyone that's really like histamine. I say histamine, that's not a medical term. Um, but you know, dealing with like higher levels of histamine or like that histamine overload picture, you know, there could be something going on there too.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. Do you ever, I'm kind of going off a little bit here. Um, but have you ever worked with anyone who has keratosis polaris and what have you seen as a, have you seen anything as a link to that?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, that's a good question. We And I have keratosis pilaris. So, you know, there's that. I, so I've seen what's helped me and what's not. Um, I do believe. And, and so one of the practitioners on my team, her name is Marley and she has, she's also a licensed esthetician in addition to a functional registered dietitian. And she's mentored under like this amazing naturopathic doctor who specializes in, in skin conditions. So she's like our skin, I call it the skin queen. She sees everyone with like chronic acne and eczema and psoriasis and all of that on the team. Um, and I, when I asked her about it, she was like big time, like mitochondrial funk Like poor mitochondrial function and cell membrane issues can be a big thing there. And then I, you know, I like to say omega threes and then, you know, cause a lot of people have there's the whole conversation of seed oils and omega sixes and all of that. And I kind of take a slightly, slightly different take on that because honestly, when you look at the data, there's kind of data to support both sides of it. But I do really strongly believe that we're getting just a ton of exposure to omega sixes and not enough to omega threes. So I don't think omega-6s are bad in nature, just like bad period. But I think we're getting, we're just intaking a lot of those versus omega-3s, which are kind of hard to get from the diet unless you're like really on it and you're eating like sardines and salmon like all the time, right? Whereas seed oils just sneak into everything and you're just getting tons of those. So I think that does matter because it does influence the cell membrane. So I think increasing omega-3s in the diet and being strategic with that, like supplement Most people will benefit from supplementing that can be helpful for that. So I look into like mitochondrial health and then like cell membrane health and bring down inflammation. And then I will say, you know, decreasing gluten did help mine a bit.
SPEAKER_02:Oh, yeah, that helped a ton. And I thought it was the dairy, too. And yeah, but what I've noticed is decreasing gluten and really focusing on gut has really allowed me to eat. eat dairy and notice that the skin issue has gone away. Yes. Which has been interesting.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Same. I've had the same experience. Like mine used to be so bad, just like personal. Right. So it's not like I have a ton of clients to like back this, but cause it's not a number one complaint that people would come to us with, but no, mine, I mean, mine was so bad. I was like so embarrassed and I would like, want to not show my arms, you know? Yeah. And doing the deeper gut work, mine has decreased like, oh my gosh, like 80% probably. And then, yeah, I can eat dairy now and I would have never touched it before.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. And we see, we see that very consistently in clients, like over and over and over again, clients come in, can't eating dairy. They can't tolerate dairy. We repair the gut. They can eat it again. Like that's one of the most common things that we see.
SPEAKER_02:So I'd say most of my audience is coming here from an environmental standpoint, but maybe they're just listening and they, they have got issues and they're like, okay, well, how do I know? How do I know if I just need to do these foundational gut things? How do I know if it's my environment? If someone was coming to you, what would you tell them? What would you do?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's a good question. So I will, I will say like, if you don't have the foundations in place already, and I can break what I, what I mean by foundations is like, are we balancing our blood sugar? Are we eating mostly whole foods? You know? So yeah, I mean, not a bunch of processed, like packaged stuff. The client that comes to us, like they took that out a long time ago. They're, they're They're kind of like, they're not eating McDonald's for example. Right. They are more health aware. They've tried like keto and whole 30 and all, and all of these things, low FODMAP. So they're, they are kind of already doing that. However, the common pattern we see is like women aren't eating enough. They're not eating enough protein and they're just not eating enough in general. You know, like they're not hitting their caloric needs. Um, and very often women will come in eating like 50 grams of protein when we would love to get them up to like a hundred to like one 20, um, one 20 is, is a lot aim for a Honestly, get up to 80 if you just get up to 80. Um, but that's a big thing. So, so sometimes you can think that you're like eating healthy cause you like, or, you know, eating a lot of veggies or you don't eat like fried food, but there's still some like gaps in it. Um, so I would say make sure you've got the foundations down, which I would consider like eating mostly whole foods, anti-inflammatory foods, foods that are rich in and nutrient dense balancing your blood sugar. Um, that's really, really key to essentially everything, your energy, your gut, function your hormone balance cortisol progesterone your sleep like like literally everything your skin acne i mean um headaches all all of it that's one of the simplest most most like game-changing things that you can do and then of course like are you prioritizing sleep are you getting to bed on time are you getting morning sun exposure and then minerals i would kind of put into that foundation too um along with like are you supporting your detox pathways like gently like how often are you moving how often are you sweating do That kind of stuff I would work on first. If you're not doing any of that, start there. If you are doing that stuff and then you are still dealing with these chronic digestive issues, then I would say it's time to take it another layer deeper. I'm a big proponent for functional testing. I think sometimes people use way too much testing. We try to find a balance because too much data is honestly just confusing for everyone involved. But I do think think like a functional stool test like it changed my whole life this test and I finally started to understand like why I was burping and like tossing and turning and waking up like bloated and all of that kind of stuff from deeper gut issues so I would say like if you're not doing the foundation start there if you are then it might be a step to like a a sign to take it a layer deeper and you know what I would consider more quote-unquote normal is like you go out for it with to dinner with with friends and you're like you eat some slices of pizza and you like have a beer and you're feeling like a little bloated and then like you know you go to bed the next day you wake up and you're fine and and that I would say is like pretty normal um maybe you have like a little bit of bloating like right before your period or something or even just like a presence or or yeah you're like out out late and you're not in like a good supportive routine and things are a little off and then you can recover quickly that I would consider just like being human you know um if you are waking up bloated if you are bloated after everything that you eat eat if you if your bloating is interfering with or I say bloating but like your constipation or diarrhea or reflux or any of these things if they are interfering with your life to the point where like you mentioned I'm clocking the bathroom everywhere I go you know I'm I haven't gone to the bathroom in five days like and I'm in pain my reflux is I'm having to take all of these foods out of my diet because this is happening I'm canceling plans I have to unbutton my pants like that is where I would say like this is we got to investigate here because something else is going on and not to scare anyone, but it's not going to get any better unless, unless you address it, you know? So don't let it, don't kind of like brush it off and be like, oh yeah, like it's, I'm just a little bloated and like, that's fine. And then, you know, you give it a year and it's going to be more consistent and it's going to be worse. So it's something to look into.
SPEAKER_02:Absolutely. So are there things that you think that every single person should be doing no matter what?
SPEAKER_01:Yes.
SPEAKER_02:I'd love to hear what your thoughts are on those. Just so people have a little bit of a takeaway of something they could be doing or should maybe be doing today. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:Gosh, so many things. I want like everyone, everyone, I wish everyone would just do. So I think, I think going back, like balancing your blood sugar is key. It's a non-negotiable and, and do you have to get it like right? A hundred percent of the time? No. Like you're gonna, you're gonna get into a pickle. Do you want me to break that down? Well,
SPEAKER_02:I was going to ask, what does that look like for you? Like, can you give some data points Let's say someone wants to go out and buy something to test their blood sugar. What would they want to look for? What does good look like? What does out of range look like? Can you share a little bit about that?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. Yeah. We don't use continuous glucose monitors too often. So I would say like I think they're great if you want to gather data for like a period of two weeks and then you take it off. I would be mindful if you have a history of restrictive eating or restrictive dieting or you're kind of like– you're, you're pushing, like you have this fear and kind of like hypervigilance around food because it may just trigger that a little bit. I, we, we see a continuous glucose monitor showing us what we didn't already know. Not that often, you know? So it's like, we kind of already, already know what we need to do. However, sometimes the data is what people like, what really like wakes people up. So that's, that's cool. Um, if you're seeing you're like fasting, like if you go to bed and like your levels are high, like they're like a hundred plus overnight, um, I would consider that a problem. If you're noticing that things are, are like, cause everyone's like, like fasted glucose is going to differ a little bit. Um, but if you're noticing really high highs and then really big drops, that would also be something to, to look into from my perspective. Um, your blood sugar will bump when you eat anything. So I think there was this big trend of like balance your blood sugar and it's never, and you know, never bought, like have it raised, like no in a healthy body, you can, your, your body can bring those levels back down. I mean, that's why we have insulin. That's why, you know, so it can, it can self-regulate, um, unless of course you have like diabetes or you're pre-diabetic or you have insulin resistance. That's kind of a different conversation, but I would say, you know, be, be mindful of using it if it's just gonna freak you out.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah.
SPEAKER_01:High highs and low lows are, are not great. High levels overnight are not great. Um, and then, and then, yeah, I mean, I think in order to do that, like foundationally, what people would want to do is they'd want to eat enough protein first, um, and veggies like fiber is also super important here and healthy fats and just like try to avoid what I would call like naked carbs. So carbohydrates are not bad. We need them. They're great. Our thyroid needs them. Our energy levels. Like I'm not here to demonize them at all. I think especially women and menstruating women. Like we need carbohydrates. Um, with that being said, we don't want to eat a big source of carbohydrates without, um, a protein or a fat source or a fiber source in there because it will kind of spike that blood sugar a bit, a bit higher than we want it. So that would look like even healthier stuff, like, you know, simple mills crackers. If you're familiar with those, like I love those and they're delicious, but if you eat just a bunch of them on their own, you know, they're mostly carbs and they're fine. They're totally fine to add into your diet. but like eat them with honestly some cheese or eat them with some turkey slices or some like avocado on top or something to help to balance that blood sugar level. So, yeah, I would say, you know, those can be some tips for people and really making sure you're getting in enough fiber as well. So there's like been a big push towards protein, which I think is great because most women are under eating it, but you got to get in enough fiber too. So aiming for like 30, maybe even 35 grams a day, which would be great, which takes a little bit of effort You know, you got to really like make sure you're, you're watching it. So yeah, those are some, some ways that some things that people can start. So that's kind of like the blood sugar piece. And then what I think would benefit everyone too, is like, go to bed, go
SPEAKER_02:to bed,
SPEAKER_01:just go to bed and really try to get eight hours. Like if you're, if you're pushing a morning workout and you have to wake up and you only sleep six hours in your workout, I'm like, I honestly don't think it's worth it. Like, I, I, I think sleep is even more important. It's especially for a woman in her fertile years. Um, very important there. Morning sunshine exposure, I think is like so incredibly important and like free and easy, like literally just step outside for, I like to say 10 minutes, but honestly I'll take three minutes, just go out there for three minutes, you know, um, anything. Yeah. To just like kind of regulate that circadian rhythm and, and support so many things. Um, which I could kind of like go on, go on about, and honestly it directly supports gut function and gut health too. But those I think are some good foundations for everyone. And then also like have practices in your routine to regulate your nervous system. I think in this world now, there's no way around it. We've got, we've got to get some of that in place.
SPEAKER_02:Absolutely. There's two things I want to touch on the nervous system piece, but I also want to go back to light because
SPEAKER_03:that's
SPEAKER_02:something I find extremely important. It's something that really has helped me regulate my hormones fully is really getting a consistent light practice. from seeing the morning sun, but also really decreasing our blue light exposure, which is also gonna make you want to go to bed earlier because you're gonna get more naturally tired as your melatonin increases because you're decreasing that blue light, which is suppressing your melatonin. So how do you see light really playing a role in your practice with the gut? Can you touch on that just a little bit more?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I think it's so important. It's so important. I recently had on my podcast, carrie bennett do you know i
SPEAKER_02:love carrie
SPEAKER_01:yeah i had her on i
SPEAKER_02:have to listen to that she's amazing
SPEAKER_01:yeah yeah and she she was like um great to explain some of like the actual research behind it and then i was able to kind of like dig into it and i'm like oh my gosh this like confirms you know it's it's just like emphasizes how important it is which i think intuitively we know right like we were designed to like wake up on the sun go to bed as the sun goes down and we've just as as we've modernized and as technology has it developed, we just get really off that like regular rhythm, you know? So I do think deep in our gut and intuitively, like we know that it's important and we just kind of like resist it or, or life, you know, pulls us in other directions or whatever. Um, but I do in my like signature gut repairing program, I have a whole module on the circadian rhythm. Um, I think it's, I think it's very important for, um, there, there is some great, interesting data to show that it can impact like irritable bowel disease. It can impact the gut lining and it can impact gut motility, like pretty directly. It can also influence obviously vitamin D levels, um, but it can raise, and, and I'm, you may want to fact check this. I don't want to misspeak, but I believe it can raise vitamin D levels like, um, and support the gut, not even through the absorption of the skin. There's something very interesting there. She, she really likes to recommend getting sun exposure, like directly on the abdomen for like 20 minutes once a week. Um, which I think is like fascinating. So, so yeah, I think there's many ways that we can pull in but but from what what the research shows is like gut lining and inflammation gut motility and your gut has its own circadian rhythm too right so it's like you don't really want to be eating at like 3 a.m. and you kind of want to be eating you know Ayurveda really speaks to this like eat when the sun is up and don't eat after the sun's gone down which we would have naturally done previously before you know iPhones and TVs and all that kind of stuff so I think I think yes it directly impacts the gut and what I I see and how I really started like looking into it was my cortisol. So, um, the, the most impactful thing that you can do to raise your cortisol in like a healthy way as it, as it kind of should be raised is morning is morning sunlight is, is light exposure. And this is going to help more than any supplement or more than any other intervention, which I think is like absolutely amazing because it's, it's free and we just step outside. Yeah. It would, it's just, it's fantastic. And I had low cortisol personally after just years of high cortisol. Um, and anyone that, you know, if you just, if you wake up feeling like totally exhausted and you, I was waking up with like some headaches and, um, I was noticing that like, even after a cup of coffee, I'm like, I have no, I feel like I have no fuel. Like there's no fuel in the gas tank. And, um, it was after just like a couple, like, you know, hard, intense years and life life happens. And I had kind of been like riding like high cortisol over and over again. So after it's high for a while, it's going to crash low. and I think low is way worse because high you kind of like you can ride the like oh it's okay like I actually feel okay you know um and then you get low and you're like I'm freaking exhausted you know so um anyway going back to light like that that was one of the things that helped me the most in raising my morning cortisol levels to a high level like to a to a more normal level because they should be higher in the morning and and um lower at night so it direct impacts cortisol. And I believe there's an impact on progesterone production as well, but I don't want to misspeak there. So I think it's like totally key, you know, and easy to implement.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. So I love this conversation on the nervous system as well, because I think like part of my story is just being like type a super stress, like creating my own internal stress. And, um, what are some things that you help clients with? Like, what are some easy practices people could take away if, if maybe they're like that, or maybe even if they're not like that, but they're just trying to regulate their nervous system a little bit.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, it's a great, it's a great question. And I think that like, it can be taken in so many directions and it kind of depends on the person. Um, but you know, I lead my client through breathwork Like I think breathwork is a wonderful tool to help to regulate the nervous system. There is some cool data to show that like utilizing the breath is one of kind of the fastest ways that you can exit that sympathetic fight or flight state and enter that parasympathetic or rest and digest state, which directly impacts your gut health and gut function and stomach acid production, all of that. Um, so I love breathwork personally, and I find that clients enjoy it as well, especially those that kind of run type a and quick thinking. Um, because usually we're resistant to meditation, you know, we're like, well, I don't have time to sit down. Um, close my eyes. Right. And, and so that, that I think is like, uh, if you feel like you're super resistant to meditation, I would really explore that number one. Um, and, and I'm not immune to that. You know, I'm, I am very type a myself and perfection, perfectionism and all of that and go, go, go leaning back and relaxing is harder for me. So like you're not alone in this so breath work I think is a great tool because it kind of you're still kind of like actively doing something but it's still kind of shifting you into that more parasympathetic but I find that there's just less resistance for the brain there because you can like count right so you can be like inhale for four exhale for five and that I feel like the brain is like okay I'm less resistant to this than just like you know observing my thoughts or being super quiet or anything like that and I love like the voo breath specifically so that's something that your your community can take away way, like the inhale through the nose and then exhale to making that voo sound great for tonifying the vagus nerve. And I feel like if I do, you know, even just three minutes of that, I'm like, Ooh,
SPEAKER_02:there I am. That feels better. And that's just like a deep breath. And then you're just like, like, and you just keep it going until you kind of can't go anymore. Yep,
SPEAKER_01:exactly. And it's, it's great. Like you can put one hand on your heart and one hand on your belly and And really inhale, filling up that lower belly. And then on the exhale, pursing the lips and making that voo sound. And you'll feel the subtle vibration in your chest and in your tummy, which I think can be helpful for people. And that's, you know, the vagus nerve goes all the way down. And you can kind of feel that subtle vibration is what helps to tonify that vagus nerve. So any like gargling or humming or chanting or oming or anything, or the voo breath is great for that. So I think that's a really good way to do it. I also love breathwork because it's free and you can do it anywhere. Like I'll, I'll do that while like my conditioner setting in, in the shower, you know, like, especially if I'm going to get on a podcast or I'm going to jump into a day of calls and I'm like a little, like, I'm like wound up, you know, you can do it while you're like making eggs. You can do it while you're driving to pick your kids up from school. So, you know, there's like, there's really no excuse.
SPEAKER_02:Habit stacking. We love habit stacking. Yeah. That's awesome. So what about let's go back to somebody who has that mold piece. Maybe now they've learned about mold. Maybe they've been impacted. You know, there's a lot of fear there. Oh,
SPEAKER_01:yeah.
SPEAKER_02:For somebody specifically going through that. Is there something else that you would you would recommend like a brain retraining or can you speak to that a little bit more?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I know. It's so much. It's so scary. It really wigged my nervous system out. Let me tell you when we've talked about this. this before yeah no not on this podcast I was like so so terrified of of mold and arguably still I'm a little scared of it um and just kind of more like aware right I was like every room I'd walk into I'd be like is there mold in here and yeah so really it really winds you up and I I feel for people so much when they go through it and I've I've been there you know so I do think that um other practices like neurofeedback or EMDR um or sometimes we'll recommend like the these things can be really helpful because sometimes when you're so, the best way I can, I can describe it as like, you're so deep in this fear, like cycle that you, you kind of like can't even see out of it. Like, like the light at the end of the tunnel is dwindling and every it's the pattern gets so activated that breath work is not even going to do it anymore. You know, you almost need something to like come in and intervene with that, with that. What's the word I'm looking for? Like thought pattern. or like neural pathway.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah,
SPEAKER_01:just interrupt it. So I think neurofeedback can be great for that. And EMDR can be great for that too. Like when I was going through it, I got myself into therapy and I started EMDR and it was like so freaking helpful. So that kind of requires finding someone in your area and things like that. But I think those are our two like go-tos. Do you have things specifically that you like?
SPEAKER_02:Neurofeedback has helped me so much because because neurological issues were one of the biggest things I struggled with. I've been doing neurofeedback for almost a year and a half. Like I thought it was gonna be like this three month, six month thing and I was gonna be better. It really has taken me a long time, but it's helped so much. But I know that doesn't always work for everyone. I've had people who've tried neurofeedback and they've had some adverse reactions to it. So it's like one of those things, again, it's not a one, none of these things are a one size fits all. But, you know, I think the goal of asking you that question is really just for anyone who's listening, who might be like, what can I try, you know, because I think a lot of the healing journey is really just. trying a lot of different things and seeing what works for you because i've seen one thing work for somebody and it doesn't work for the other person it's just so individual depending on what you're going through and what's like your genetic expressions and you know so many
SPEAKER_01:things totally yeah yes absolutely i've seen people have like not be able to really tolerate emdr either you know it's like too like re-traumatizing or it brings too much up um so i yeah i pretty much like fully agree with that you kind of have to like see see what works best for you there's a the gupta program will recommend as well there's like primal trust but i don't my my understanding is that's not quite it's not the like the same like methodology as neurofeedback but i do like everything they share i'm like yes yes yes so i think i think that could be a wonderful option i have zero affiliation with them they don't even know exist but they're but the work is great um and i'm trying to think of anything else like also just really trying to you know if you are in a situation where you're like in mold or whatever Right. Right. important to like do what you can to get out of your head like get be with your friends be with your family like go to a funny movie go go to a dance class like try to these things can also help us like pattern interrupt right because when we're on our own and then we're like scrolling Instagram and we're reading and then we're listening to podcasts and then we're watching things about it on YouTube it's like you'll just spiral yourself out and I've this is not I'm not blaming you I did this you
SPEAKER_02:know like Same. Yeah. Um,
SPEAKER_01:I agree. I love that you said that. I think, I think a lot of people are looking for this or that, and I'm like, it's, it's kind of both. I hate to say it, but you got to do both. Um, cause that's when it really truly can, can work. And sometimes you're kind of more available for one versus the other, or you're, you're going to respond better to one versus the other, you know, but, um, yeah, hard, hard agree on that. I think there's no, there's no, or it's really, and
SPEAKER_02:yeah, absolutely. I just love what you do. I love that you bring all of this wisdom into into it through the lens of gut and skin because I think that that's kind of like the thing that pushes people to really make a change sometimes you know it's like that physical thing or like that thing that they just don't love about themselves like oh I can't fit in my pants or I feel overweight or that's sometimes the thing that really pushes people like I've I know for myself like I felt horrible but I was like I need to lose weight you know like I don't know there was just this thing of like I know I feel bad but I'm more and I'm more adept to do something because I feel like I'm overweight or I have a physical thing that I don't like, as opposed to just being like, I don't know, I just don't feel so good. I don't know how to explain it. Sometimes it's just like, you really need that thing to push you to get help, to get the support. And I think that gut issues are one of those things where they're like, I need to find the help. And that you are the person who can uncover all these other missing pieces to help them just change their lifestyle and change like just their whole life. Like it's so beautiful because so much beauty comes out of that. And that's really like the common thread of what I want to take away from this podcast is, is, you know, who, who are we becoming in this process? Who are we becoming in this process of learning about our health and our environment and how, how does this shape us? And so with that, I kind of want to leave you with my, my big question that I want to tie all of our podcast guests together with and you know what part of yourself has really awakened through this work that you're doing like is there any insights that you've gained over the years of just doing this work where you just feel a little bit of enlightenment that you can leave people with today to let them know that when they get to the other side there's always something to learn
SPEAKER_01:I could say so many things. It's completely changed me, you know, like it wakes you up and then you can't unsee certain things. And, and also you don't even want to unsee certain things. Like it, it changes who you are, um, in a good way. I I'd say probably this is such a beautiful question first off, but I think probably the emotional component, like if, if I'm a big believer as well, which like we talk about gut issues, yes. And bloating, but if, if there is unprocessed emotion, Or if there is like, like, if you don't really like love yourself, I mean, we're not, we're, I can't get you better, you know? And, and I can help guide the way for you, but I had to really do so much work and it was the most life-changing work and, and so worth it. And I continue to do it around, like, how am I speaking to myself? Like, how am I talking to myself? And, and why am I waking up and checking my stomach every morning and what it looks like? Does it look any smaller? It's like, so I think that piece of me of like really, really understanding that your emotional wellness and how you speak to yourself and how you view the world is just as important as like eating fiber. You know, it's that piece is, and that's what I want to share with all clients. And sometimes we can get them there and sometimes, you know, they're not ready to see that yet. But I think that... I hope that's making sense. It's this, it's this like other layer of like, of like loving yourself at, which I know sounds kind of cheesy, but, and, and what's in the way of you, of you not loving yourself. And what are these belief pat, like these belief systems and patterns that you're just like reaffirming day after day. And where do they, where do they come from? And why do you think you have to look this way? And why do you think you have to work this hard? And why do you think that this is the right way? And this is the wrong way. And peeling some, peeling some of that back, I think is like so game changing. In addition to one of the things that I really had to learn was like, I have to source safety within myself and, and really working on feeling safe in my own body, which I will say like EMDR helped me a lot with, and like also peeling back like childhood trauma and all of that stuff, like helped, helped a lot with. Um, but really like, it's like, okay, if there's a threat in the environment, maybe it's mold, maybe it's, you know, this or that, or maybe it's like a plate of French fries that are like, quote unquote bad for you or whatever. It's like, can I feel safe in my body first? Because no one else, no one else can really do that for me, you know? So, um, really learning how to like self-regulate, which I think is like a, a, a worth worthwhile tool and, and will be forever, you know? Cause things will change. Like your health can change. Your environment can change. Your job can change. Your financial situation can change. And it's like, how are you going to hold that and feel safe in your body? in your own body throughout all of that.
SPEAKER_02:I see that in so many people and it's, um, it's really hard. It's really hard. And it's, I love one of the practices that has helped me with that is really, truly. And again, I, I love what you said. It does sound cheesy, but truly looking in the mirror in the morning and like saying something nice, like look, finding something I really like about myself and just saying like, you know, I really love the way that, you know, your hair looks today or like, just, it could be so simple and you might not believe it at first, but just, it's just interrupting the that pattern of what you would normally look in the mirror and think. And that really unfolds into so many other aspects of our life. And I always say that too, with, even with our environments, like I could help you, we could build a healthy non-toxic home. We could go through every single thing, building science. You can have the best team on your side. You could do all the things, but if you don't feel safe inside your body, you're not going to feel safe inside your home. There's no such thing as a safe home. Like our home is our skin. And that is where we need to feel safe first. Otherwise you're spending money on things that it's never going to change the route.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. 100, 100%. I had my therapist said to me once, cause I, I had dealt with the mold and I had moved a bunch of times. And then, then I moved into this apartment and then we got hit by a hurricane. And then there's like water all in the, of course my apartment gets damaged. Meanwhile, my friend is in the same building and she doesn't get any damage. And I'm like, Oh my gosh. And I'm full, I'm full freak, you know? And then I'm like full freak out. And I'm just like, I cannot believe this is happening again. And blah blah which of course like it's awful and it sucks but my therapist was able to reveal to me like this is this is obviously an issue yes like in your external environment this is an issue but this is hitting you so hard because there's a deeper story here and you didn't feel safe in your home as a little girl you know so which is which is the truth so I'm like okay and she's like that doesn't mean that the water damage isn't an issue and the mold isn't an issue right and like we can get out or we can repair it or whatever but she's like this is the reason why you are like full freak out here is because it's hitting something deeper you know and it's like from that lens it's like I'm like really she's
SPEAKER_00:like
SPEAKER_01:she's like yeah you know and then and then I can bring in compassion for little little me you know and and that just like really truly changes the game because then you feel more empowered you're like okay this is an issue yes but I got this you know I and I can get through this and then you can kind of build that resiliency like you were saying
SPEAKER_02:yeah I love that I love this from Hannah, you're so amazing. Thank you so much for taking the time to join us here. I'm, I can't wait for everyone to listen to this. How can people find you? How can they work with you? Where should they reach out to you? Tell us all the things.
SPEAKER_01:Yes. Thank you for having me. I know we could talk forever. We can just keep talking. Yeah. So you can connect with me. We launched a podcast this year. It's been like very well received. It's been really like firing me up where I go into detail on like all things, gut health, gut function, SIBO, histamine overload, all sorts of stuff. So if you're someone that's, that's dealing with chronic digestive issues, like please come on over and have a listen to that. It's called the nutrient dense podcast. Um, and then also I'm like pretty, pretty active on Instagram. So you can find me at Hannah Aylward, HHC. And then if you're interested in working with us, you can always send me a DM and we can book a call, or you can go to my website, which is just Hannah Aylward.com. And you can, um, contact us through there and, you know, we can chat and see how we can help you.
SPEAKER_02:Awesome. All right, everyone. Go check out Hannah's Instagram. Go check out her podcast. I know I can't wait to go listen to a couple of episodes we talked about even in this podcast. And awesome. Well, thanks, Hannah. Thank you. Thanks so much for tuning into today's podcast. We have one more thing before you go. We are giving away one spot into our Conscious Construction Container Program, which is our signature program that helps you build and renovate your home from the ground up to reduce your exposure to mold, chemicals, and electromagnetic radiation. And even if you're not building a home, we've had a lot of students who have gone through the program who are not building a home who have found immense value in going through the program because now they We'll see you next time. platforms. Comment on the Instagram post that we have linked below and tag a friend who you think would love this podcast or could benefit from the podcast. And every tag is another entry. I just want to say thank you so, so, so much for being here, for listening, and for leaving a rating and review because this is going to help us get better guests onto the podcast in the future to provide you with more value. So we really, really do appreciate every star, every like, every comments and every subscribe that you can give us because it really does help us bring you more value in the future. So thanks again for being here and we'll see you on the next episode.