Love & Guts

#324 You've probably heard serotonin called "the happy chemical." But over 90% of the serotonin in your body isn't made in your brain at all — it's made in your gut, and it does a completely different job there.

In this episode, I walk through what gut serotonin actually does for motility, why gut and brain serotonin are largely separate systems (even though your gut and brain are still deeply connected, just through other pathways), what can cause reduced gut serotonin production, and what the newest research says about the gut bacteria that may influence it. I'm upfront about what's genuinely proven and what's still early-stage animal research—including a promising, evidence-backed link between fibre, short-chain fatty acids, and serotonin production that ties right back to why fibre matters.

Links: 📅 Book a 1:1 consultation with Lynda: https://www.lyndagriparic.com/book-an-appointment/

📖 Get Things Moving — Evidence-based guide to overcoming constipation: https://www.lyndagriparic.com/product/constipation-guide-get-things-moving/

🍵 BetterMe Tea: https://www.lyndagriparic.com/shop/

This content is for educational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Please consult with your healthcare provider before making any changes to your diet or health routine.

#323 Fibremaxxing is having a real moment right now — and while I'm all for people increasing their fibre intake to support their microbiome, "eat more fibre" isn't universal advice for constipation. For a specific group of people, more fibre doesn't just fail to help. It genuinely makes things worse.

In this episode, I walk through exactly who fibre can backfire for and why — including SIBO and IMO, pelvic floor dysfunction (dyssynergic defecation), and slow transit constipation. I cover the real mechanisms behind how fibre works, why fluid intake changes the equation, what the research actually shows about low FODMAP diets (and what it doesn't), and why I don't believe in long-term fibre or FODMAP restriction. If you've increased your fibre, done everything "right," and either nothing's changed, or you've gotten worse — this episode explains why that's not failure; it's information.

Links:

📅 Book a 1:1 consultation with Lynda: https://www.lyndagriparic.com/book-an-appointment/

📖 Get Things Moving — Evidence-based guide to overcoming constipation: https://www.lyndagriparic.com/product/constipation-guide-get-things-moving/

🍵 BetterMe Tea: https://www.lyndagriparic.com/shop/

This content is for educational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Please consult with your healthcare provider before making any changes to your diet or health routine.

#322 Constipation in children is one of the most common — and most misunderstood — issues parents bring to a practitioner's door. What if the medication your child has been prescribed isn't actually teaching their bowel how to work?

My guest today is Sonya Reynolds, a Sydney-based, degree-qualified Nutritionist and Life Coach with over 17 years of experience. Sonya specialises in gut health, digestive disorders, and paediatric nutrition, with a particular focus on natural epilepsy management, something that stems from her own family's journey after her daughter's epilepsy diagnosis in 2012. Sonya is also the founder of Paediatrics in Practice, a practitioner education summit for those working in children's health.

In this episode, we cover the real drivers of childhood constipation, why osmotic laxatives don't teach the bowel to work on their own, and how food, hydration, magnesium, and targeted probiotics can be layered in alongside conventional treatment.

In this episode, you'll discover: ✅ The most common causes of constipation in kids, and how it differs from adults ✅ What fecal impaction actually is, and why it can look like diarrhoea ✅ How withholding behaviour develops, and how to support kids through daycare or school toileting anxiety ✅ Sonya's food-first approach by age group, from stewed apples to resistant starch ✅ Why partially hydrolysed guar gum (PHGG) works well for fussy or sensory-sensitive kids ✅ When to reach for lactulose vs. Macrogol, and how to avoid long-term dependence ✅ The specific probiotic strains Sonya uses clinically, and why ✅ The red flags that mean it's time to refer to a GP for further investigation ✅ Whether there's a "critical window" for shaping a child's long-term gut health

Sonya Reynolds is a Sydney-based, degree-qualified Nutritionist and Life Coach with over 17 years of clinical experience, specialising in gut health, digestive disorders, and paediatric nutrition. Her focus on natural epilepsy management stems from her own family's journey — in 2012, her eldest daughter was diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of epilepsy, and is now seizure-free and medication-free following dietary and lifestyle intervention.

This content is for educational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Please consult your healthcare provider before making changes to your health routine.

#321 If you've been told to take magnesium for your constipation, there's a good chance you were handed magnesium oxide — it's cheap, it's everywhere, and it does work. But once you understand what actually happens to it in your body, there's a compelling reason I don't reach for it first with my clients.

In this episode, I walk through the real mechanism behind how magnesium moves your bowels, what the research actually shows about magnesium oxide's effectiveness, and why its conversion process may work against you if methane-driven constipation (SIBO-methane or IMO) is part of your picture. I'll also share the dose used in the research for magnesium citrate, my clinical approach to titrating it safely, and the red flags that tell you it's time to stop self-prescribing and get your case properly investigated.

⚠️ If you're on medications, have kidney issues, or are unsure if magnesium is appropriate for you, please check with your practitioner before supplementing.

If you've been taking magnesium and it's just not cutting it — or if it seems to be making things worse — self-prescribing can only take you so far. Book a consultation with me and let's work out why.

Links: 📅 Book a 1:1 consultation with Lynda: https://www.lyndagriparic.com/book-an-appointment/

📖 Get Things Moving — Evidence-based guide to overcoming constipation: https://www.lyndagriparic.com/product/constipation-guide-get-things-moving/

🍵 BetterMe Tea: https://www.lyndagriparic.com/shop/

This content is for educational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Please consult with your healthcare provider before making any changes to your diet or health routine.

#320 Travel is one of the most common gut disruptors I hear about in clinic — and one of the most preventable. In this episode, I'm sharing exactly what I pack to keep my gut moving when I travel, what the whole family takes, and why every single choice is backed by research.

Whether you're someone who has no issues at home but completely shuts down the moment you board a plane, or someone who already deals with sluggish bowels and knows travel makes it significantly worse — this one is for you.

I walk you through the six key reasons travel disrupts your bowels, and then get into my bare minimum gut travel toolkit: the four things I never leave home without, plus the two free foundations that make everything else work better.

We cover GOS — the prebiotic I start seven days before travel that research shows may significantly reduce the incidence and duration of traveller's diarrhoea, and that also supports gut motility. I explain how to dose it, which form has the strongest research behind it, and importantly, who should not be taking it without professional guidance (if you have active or suspected SIBO, please speak with a qualified gut-informed practitioner before adding prebiotic fibres).

We also cover PHGG for gentle, bloat-free bowel regularity, magnesium bisglycinate (and when citrate may be the better choice) for softening stool and supporting peristalsis, and BetterMe Tea — my own herbal formulation that travels everywhere with me.

This isn't a complicated protocol. It's a simple, evidence-based toolkit that works — even when your routine doesn't.

In this episode: — Why travel is such a powerful gut disruptor (the six key drivers) — GOS: the prebiotic doing double duty before you board the plane — Who should not take GOS and how to titrate the dose — PHGG: bowel regularity without the bloat — Magnesium bisglycinate (and citrate): which form and why — BetterMe Tea: my travel ritual — Hydration and movement: the free non-negotiables — When travel constipation signals something deeper worth investigating

This episode is for educational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Please consult with a qualified healthcare practitioner before making changes to your health routine.

Lynda Griparic is a degree-qualified naturopath with extensive experience in complex gut health conditions including IBS, SIBO, IMO, and chronic constipation. She offers telehealth consultations Australia-wide and internationally.

#319 Last week I saw a patient who had been on a low FODMAP diet for 12 years. Self-prescribed. No reintroduction. No professional guidance. His story is far more common than most people realise — and it's exactly why I recorded this episode.

Low FODMAP, keto, and carnivore diets all have legitimate therapeutic applications. But when they're self-prescribed, followed indefinitely, and used without ever investigating the underlying cause of symptoms, they can cause their own harm — quietly, progressively, and in ways that are very difficult to reverse.

In this episode, I'm drawing on my extensive experience working with constipation and gut health to talk specifically about what these diets do to your bowel — the microbiome changes, the impact on butyrate and serotonin production, the loss of mechanical stimulation, and why constipation is one of the most commonly reported and least discussed consequences of long-term dietary restriction.

I also cover the conditions — including SIBO, where a low FODMAP approach may be appropriate for longer than the standard timeframe, and why even in those cases, reintroduction is always the goal.

If you feel better on a restricted diet but can't seem to reintroduce foods without your symptoms returning, this episode will help you understand why — and what to do about it.

In this episode:

• What Monash University actually says about how long the low FODMAP diet should be followed
• Why prolonged FODMAP restriction affects Bifidobacteria, butyrate production, and bowel function
• What the research shows about the ketogenic diet, microbiome diversity, fibre intake, and constipation
• The latest evidence on the carnivore diet — including a 2026 cross-sectional study and 2025 scoping review
• Why symptom relief on a restricted diet is the beginning of the investigation, not the end of it
• A clear path forward for anyone stuck in a cycle of restriction with no resolution in sight

Resources mentioned:

• Get Things Moving — Evidence-based guide to overcoming constipation:
• Book a consultation
• BetterMe Tea

Lynda Griparic is a degree-qualified naturopath and certified Healthy Gut Practitioner with extensive experience in constipation, SIBO, and gut microbiome health. Telehealth consultations available across Australia and internationally.

This episode is for educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice.

#318 What if the gut symptoms no one can explain are connected to something your gastroenterologist was never trained to look for?

Dr. Susan Trachman is a board-certified psychiatrist with over 30 years of experience treating medically unexplained illness — and the gut shows up at the centre of those mystery cases more often than you'd think.

In this episode, we explore the bidirectional relationship between the brain and gut, why chronic stress and unresolved trauma can silently reshape the microbiome, and what it takes to break the cycle of symptoms that won't respond to conventional treatment.

You'll discover:

• What alexithymia is and why it keeps gut symptoms stuck
• How early childhood trauma wires the gut for dysfunction decades later
• Why anxiety and gut distress feed each other — and which one comes first
• Dr. Trachman's MENDS framework: Medication, Exercise, Nutrition, Dhyana, Sleep
• Why exercise may be the single most underrated gut health tool
• The threshold effect of over-exercise on the microbiome
• What leaky gut looks like from a psychiatric perspective
• How to identify anxiety as the hidden driver when gut treatment isn't working
• The connection between sleep deprivation and neurodegenerative disease

Dr. Trachman is the author of It's Not Just In Your Head: Demystifying the Brain-Body Connection in Medical Illness — a must-read for anyone whose symptoms have been dismissed.

Find Dr. Trachman's book here

To work with Lynda or explore Microba gut microbiome testing, visit lyndagriparic.com.

#317 I'm a degree-qualified naturopath with over 20 years of clinical experience, with a primary focus on complex gut health conditions — and in this video, I'm doing something I've never done before. I'm turning the lens on myself. I recently got my own gut microbiome tested, and I want to walk you through every single result. I didn't get tested because I had gut symptoms — my bowels are actually moving beautifully.

I got tested because I'd been dealing with over a year of persistent rosacea and wanted to know: could what's happening in my gut be connected to what's showing up on my skin? I also wanted to show you exactly what this test looks like when it's interpreted by someone who does this for a living.

We cover every section of the report — the pathogen panel, the diagnostic GI markers, microbiome diversity and richness, short-chain fatty acids, TMA, emerging metabolites, the species table, and more. I also share the result that was flagged as severely abnormal — and why, in context, it almost certainly isn't. This is what it looks like to use real data to motivate real change — not because something has gone terribly wrong, but because catching the trajectory early is the whole point.

What we cover

• What makes shotgun metagenomics different from other stool tests
• The targeted pathogen panel — what it tests for and what my results showed
• Pancreatic elastase — the result that flagged severely low, and why context changes everything
• Lactoferrin, calprotectin, zonulin, secretory IgA, and faecal occult blood
• Microbial diversity and richness — what we're aiming for and why it matters
• Butyrate, acetate, propionate, and TMA — what they mean and how diet influences them
• Prevotella copri — nuanced, misunderstood, and more common in traditional diets than you'd think
• Emerging markers, including GABA, and why we need to hold them lightly
• Human DNA elevation — and why collection context explains it
• My action steps and why seeing this data now motivates me to act

I'm Lynda Griparic, a degree-qualified naturopath with extensive experience in complex gut health conditions, including SIBO, IMO, and chronic constipation. Book a consultation or shop BetterMe Tea at lyndagriparic.com

This content is for educational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Please consult with your healthcare provider before making any changes to your health routine.

#316 Chloe Turner has lived with Crohn's disease for 25 years. She's also a degree-qualified naturopath and clinical microbiome consultant at Microba — one of Australia's most advanced gut microbiome testing companies. In this conversation, she brings both worlds together: the science of what microbiome testing actually reveals in IBD, and the deeply human experience of living inside a body that can turn on you without warning.

Chloe talks candidly about the psychological weight of waiting for the next flare, why clinical remission doesn't always mean your microbiome is safe, and how shotgun metagenomics testing is catching things that colonoscopies and blood tests simply miss — including stealth pathogens like EPEC quietly driving inflammation while everything else looks stable.

In this episode, you'll discover:

• What gut microbiome testing reveals that conventional IBD workups cannot
• How EPEC and E. coli species silently fuel flares — and what to do about it
• Why clinical remission doesn't mean your microbiome is out of the danger zone
• How microbiome shifts can precede a flare before symptoms appear
• The emerging link between microbiome state and biologic medication response
• The psychological weight of the relapse-recovery cycle and how Chloe navigates it personally
• Why intuition and anxiety around food can look identical and how to tell them apart
• Practical dietary and supplement strategies used alongside conventional IBD care
• Why annual microbiome testing could be one of the most powerful tools for flare prevention
• What Chloe wishes she'd known 25 years ago

If you're living with Crohn's, colitis, or any form of IBD, or you're a practitioner working in this space, this episode is for you.

Connect with Chloe Turner: chloturner.com.au

Register for a Microba Practitioner account

I'm Lynda Griparic, a degree-qualified naturopath with extensive experience in complex gut health conditions, including SIBO, IMO, and chronic constipation. Book a consultation or shop BetterMe Tea at lyndagriparic.com

This content is for educational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Please consult with your healthcare provider before making any changes to your health routine.

#315 Should you test your baby's microbiome — and if so, when? In this episode, I sit down with naturopath, herbalist, lactation consultant, and infant microbiome expert Dawn Whitten to take a critical and balanced look at the new wave of paediatric microbiome testing.

Dawn brings over 20 years of clinical experience in perinatal and early life health, and in this conversation, she covers what these tests get right, where they fall short, and the very real risk of over-interpreting a rapidly changing ecosystem.

In this episode, you'll discover:

• What "normal" actually looks like in the infant microbiome across the first two to three years of life
• Why the infant microbiome can shift dramatically in just a few weeks without any intervention
• The clinical risk of testing too early and acting too fast
• Why Bifidobacterium is the keystone genus of the infant gut — and which species matter most
• The age grouping problem with current paediatric tests
• Why organisms like Blastocystis and Dientamoeba in a baby's report may not be cause for alarm
• The problem with functional markers like faecal calprotectin in infants
• What responsible interpretation actually looks like in clinical practice
• What Dawn wishes these tests would do differently
• Dawn's Natural Early Life Health course and how it equips practitioners to use these tests wisely

Love & Guts listeners receive 25% off Dawn's Natural Early Life Health course via the links below. Jason Hawrelak's Healthy Gut course is a prerequisite — bundle options are available. Offer available until 15 April 2026.

Love & Guts podcast special discount links

Natural Early Life Course & Bridging Course Bundle https://probiotic-advisor.teachable.com/p/early-life-health11?affcode=186042_ituurmer

Natural Early Life Health 2026 term https://probiotic-advisor.teachable.com/p/early-life-health12?affcode=186042_ituurmer

If you work with infants and young children, or you're a parent navigating gut health in early life, this episode is for you.