This week, Meg & Kylie bring another dual episode to you talking about the foundational aspect of food! Today's guest is our very own Kylie Fagnano, Registered Dietitian, trained as an Integrative and Functional Nutrition Certified Practitioner, as well as a Certified Leap Therapist. She earned her BS in Psychology and Master’s in Nutrition in Scranton, PA. Her private practice, Strata Nutrition, was born out of her little apartment in Portland, Maine!

A long time sufferer of digestive issues and autoimmune disease herself, Kylie asks and expects of her clients the very same work that she did for herself. She *literally* understands what it feels like, what other feelings the process can bring up and how lonely and hopeless it can seem sometimes.

You can connect with Kylie on IG @the.gut.therapist and online at www.stratanutrition.com

Check out Strata Supplements too!  You can learn more about this incredibly high quality supplement line here:  https://www.stratanutrition.com/shop/

TLDL takeaways:

1) Food is a set of instructions for our bodies; and different foods can give different instructions to different people

2) There are different layers to gut healing: some people might just need a gentle diet spruce up meaning eating more foods in their most whole form and some may need to actually go through an elimination diet. The starting point looks different for everyone. Two extreme examples might be: "Yeah I guess I really haven't looked at my diet I can see myself starting there" vs "I have been to 17 different doctors and nothing has helped"

3) Whichever of the following action steps you choose to move forward with- you MUST do it at 100%; otherwise you may end up more frustrated and may not get accurate information

4) Food sensitivities can cause symptoms in a person for up to 72 hours after eating the food. This is part of what makes finding patterns between foods and symptoms so hard 

5) A helpful place to start could be tracking your food, digestive symptoms, mood & emotions and see if you can start to identify any patterns on your own

6) Just because we have to eat to survive does *NOT* mean you should already know how to eat for your body

7) Some examples of symptoms of food sensitivities and/or if you might have gut issues: neurological (anxiety, depression, brain fog, exhaustion, ADD/ADHD), skin issues (acne, eczema, psoriasis, ketosis pilaris), tinnitus (ear ringing), need to clear your throat, joint pain, digestive (heartburn, bloating, constipation, diarrhea)

8) Food is RARELY the cause of an illness or set of symptoms, and there are certain exceptions, but typically food is a trigger and becomes part of the problem but is rarely the root cause

9) Food with SIMPLE ingredients may be the single best thing someone can do for their gut! Tune in to the full episode to learn what exactly that means!