HSN Episode #37: Why Your Gut Health Matters with Dr. Tyrrell Jenkins
Michelle Fox: [00:00:00] Welcome to Healthy Sexy Nutrition with me, Michelle Fox, Culinary nutritionist, health coach, and your host For this podcast, I teach busy professionals how to get more nutrition in their bodies. And how to have more fun in their home kitchens. If you struggle with consistency or sometimes forget to make your needs a priority or you avoid planning your meals.
You, my friend, are in the right place. Join me each week for inspiration to increase your energy, discover new recipes, manage your hormonal woes, and so much more. You are a busy professional, but that does not mean your nutrition should suffer. You deserve to live in a body and have a life that you love.
So let's dig in.
[00:01:00] If you are watching this episode on YouTube, you will notice your girl is wearing her swimsuit coverup, and trying to get my beach vibes going because
I am packing my bags We are headed to the Dominican Republic this October, and I would love to have you join us, Head on over to crave wellness.com/retreat and you will see all of the beautiful details including the photos of the very dreamy home we have reserved. That's right on the beach. of course we'll have easy links for you to click in the show notes. So this is actually, it just occurred to me, this is my first guest. That I have had twice on the show, so. This is like, it's pretty to [00:02:00] celebrate.
Oh my gosh. I did not know that. Yes, you, you are my guest, clearly. Thanks for having me, Michelle. Thanks for having me again. Yes. So my friends who did not hear our first episode, of course go back. I will link that in the show notes. But for this episode, I've got Dr. TJ with me to talk about gut health.
just in case you have not met this powerhouse, let me read his bio. So, Dr. Tyrell Jenkins, affectionately known as Dr. Tj, his medical journey started by attending Howard University College of Medicine in Washington, dc. He also completed his residency in internal medicine in DC as well. So Dr. Tj, he initially practiced.
Hospital medicine and became chief of hospital at a regional hospital in Maryland. [00:03:00] After that, he then moved to New York City. Woo woo. One of my former stomping grounds, and this is where he currently practices primary care in private practice, he absolutely enjoys the relationships that he builds with his patients, which is why I am.
So thrilled that he's going to be with us, loving on and helping our participants heal at our retreat. But just to finish his bio, because you can see I'm, I'm very excited to get in this conversation with him,
His next step was to create Crave Wellness because he was craving something that was very much needed in the medical world.
His hope is that Crave Wellness will help people gain medical knowledge and learn
About.
Michelle Fox: amazing wellness destinations that will truly make a positive impact on the quality of their life and their community. So Dr. Tj, welcome [00:04:00] back to the show. Hey,
Dr. Tyrrell Jenkins: thanks for having me, Michelle. It's great being back on.
Michelle Fox: Hmm. I like that.
Just tickled me at the time of this recording. It is a Friday my friends, and so if you hear Dr. TJ and I giggling, you know, just give us a little bit of grace there. We are getting ready for the weekend. Oh my goodness. Yes. And it is time to have fun. We, we all deserve some. Fun. So speaking of fun, before we jump into that juicy gems of gut health and our gut health healing retreat in the Dominican Republic, I would like to invite you to play a rapid fire game with me.
Dr. Tyrrell Jenkins: Oh, gosh. All right. I'm ready.
Michelle Fox: Okay. Bring it on. Bring it. This is a fun one. Okay. Your favorite travel destination thus far? Ooh.
Dr. Tyrrell Jenkins: Thailand, I think Thailand. Thailand or Bali?
Michelle Fox: One, two? Mm-hmm. Nope. Because we're friends and partners [00:05:00] now. Oh, favorite. I'm gonna force you to pick
Dr. Tyrrell Jenkins: one. You wanna push me into it?
Thailand. I'll go with Thailand.
Michelle Fox: I love it. Last show that you binged and loved. Ooh,
Dr. Tyrrell Jenkins: succession?
Michelle Fox: One thing that you are grateful for life.
Dr. Tyrrell Jenkins: You know, being able to wake up every day and do what I love. So, very grateful for that life, living
Michelle Fox: healthy. Look at that. We did rapid fire and we got through it like in a rapid fire way.
Nicely done. Wasn't I caught
Dr. Tyrrell Jenkins: up on the first time.
Michelle Fox: Maybe that's part of the privilege of being an invited, a re-invited guest, right? A
Dr. Tyrrell Jenkins: redo.
Michelle Fox: let's jump into the fun part.
Well fun for you and I, because my friends who clicked on this link, they saw the title, why Your Gut Health Matters, and I really wanna jump in to give people tactical tools that they can work with starting [00:06:00] now so that they can have more energy so they can feel. Feel better about their bodies so they can feel better in their bodies.
And so just to begin with, when I use the term gut health, what does that mean to you? Yeah,
Dr. Tyrrell Jenkins: So gut health is crucial. So gut health means overall wellness of your digestive tract. It's meaning that you're getting appropriate nutrients and minerals. You feel that things are balanced. Your microbiome, which is a community of bacteria, within your gut is, is at a, at a good balance.
everything is in sync. So gut health is that entire. Clarity of
Michelle Fox: a good God. Hmm. I know you are licensed and you are studied and, and have all of the certifications for the Western medicine and.
I have studied a lot of the Eastern medicine where they talk about how our [00:07:00] gut is actually our second brain. And I know a lot of the work that you and I have talked about, it sounds like you have seen perhaps something similar, like do you have a similar belief? As far as the gut, yeah,
Dr. Tyrrell Jenkins: sometimes, right, if, if your gut health is out of whack, it's not imbalance, you're dealing with digestive issues, it's gonna play a role in, filling fatigue, filling stress, increasing stress levels.
so what we're finding out is that your digestive tract, your gut is actually responsible for making nearly 20% of the serotonin in your body. So this isn't just your brain doing all the work. Your gut has a, has a part in it too. So there is
Michelle Fox: a connection and the serotonin, that's one of the feel good hormones.
Am I correct? Yeah.
Dr. Tyrrell Jenkins: Yep. A neurotransmitter. So, you know, medications, call it S S R R I, serotonin selective receptor inhibitors or selective serotonin receptor inhibitors that keep serotonin circulating throughout the body a little bit, longer. [00:08:00] So kind of feel good, you know, areas where serotonins are decreased, can lead to anxiety, can lead to depression.
So your gut has an important role in that.
Michelle Fox: Hmm. I'm so glad you pulled that out because a lot of my friends who are listening right now are typically either going through perimenopause or menopause. And so with the work that I do and I try to make nutrition delicious. Most important, and of course, fun.
We talk a lot about how the foods we eat do affect our hormones, and so I know you know a bit more about the science and how that actually works, but
Dr. Tyrrell Jenkins: it's so interesting because in the United States of America, melatonin has been shown to be the number one over-the-counter supplement the people grab for. And why that has my attention is because that tells me that we are tired here in America. A lot of us do struggle with sleep issues.
Michelle Fox: And my personal [00:09:00] belief, and I'd love to hear your perspective in a moment, but my personal belief is the. Increased levels of cortisol. We've got streaming through our bodies because of these Tourettes that a lot of us are going through, but it's also because we are moving so fast, a lot of us do put our nutrition to the side, and so all the preservatives, the sugar, the alcohol, the caffeine, again, it's up in that cortisol level, and so people feel like they need to grab that melatonin to bring them back to allow them to sleep at night.
What is your perspective on that one?
Dr. Tyrrell Jenkins: Yeah. You know, that's one of the top, five things that a person comes to the office, for me, and it's sleep issues, so insomnia and it's tied into stress. So it's almost like peeling back a onion. How's work, how's the home environment? Taking care of children, taking care of households.
but then nutrition ends up being on the back burner. So their diet is poor. and it's not that there's no, you know, feeling of wanting a healthier diet, it's just the nature of time [00:10:00] management. and that all affects quality of sleep and the ability to sleep so people can become tired of being tired.
And so melatonin is usually, the first go-to that Many people try. You know, in addition to like camel tea and relaxation. But I do have, you know, several patients who have come to me because they tried melatonin is just, hasn't worked or, you know, they've been on it for a while and they're just concerned about being on it for several months.
If it has any adverse, you know,
Michelle Fox: effects. Well, and that's what I like to talk to my clients about, like melatonin for a couple weeks. If it helps, great. But if I'm noticing you're on it longer than three months, I'm like, hmm. Probably time to talk to a medical professional about other alternatives. Yeah. Do you feel the same way?
Dr. Tyrrell Jenkins: Yeah, you know, there's not many good high quality studies for long-term use in melatonin. So many of the data that we have right now is about short-term use and then you can [00:11:00] go anywhere and we can find different dosages. So you're not sure what dose to take, what to start on what is too high. so, you know, kind of abusing supplements and, and that safety is an issue cuz that's not really regulated.
so yeah, I would definitely say speak to a medical professional, speak to your provider to see if there's any kind of concerns if you've been on it for, more than three months. It's definitely that time to have that discussion.
Michelle Fox: Thank you.
Recently I taught a private workshop about insomnia and sleep apnea and restless leg syndrome, and I taught how nutrition can support those things. And what I found really interesting when I was doing the research and putting the presentation together, that all of the definitions that I grabbed from these medical articles would start with.
You know, sleep apnea is a common disorder. Mm-hmm. Or restless leg syndrome is a common, and so the word common [00:12:00] cap kept coming up. Mm-hmm. And so, yes, a lot of us are struggling and I wanna talk about a few tools that we can help. But before that, because I kind of feel like we're talking to the masses at this level, but you actually dove in more.
directly with i b s. Will you tell us a little bit about the book that you recently wrote? Yeah,
Dr. Tyrrell Jenkins: so it's a e-book. It's called the I b S Reset. So it's for patients who highly suspect that they have i b s, or it's confirmed that they have i b s. This is the e-book for people not only trying to gain general knowledge about I b s, but they've become frustrated by trying different diets.
They're trying to echinacia what their triggers are. So it's over 70 pages. So it's very comprehensive and we go through not only the, you know, the, the nerdy medical things, but we also go through new innovative information that's coming out about i b s food [00:13:00] sensitivities and some of the mind and body approaches to helping, you know, manage ibs.
Yeah.
Michelle Fox: Oh, I love that. So my friends who are struggling with i b s, of course, grab this ebook. We will have that linked in the show notes. And also I would love to nudge you to strongly consider joining us on our retreat in the Dominican Republic. We'll be there October 18th through the 22nd where you will have.
Access to Dr. Tj. And so you will have those days to ask your personal questions if you want, including, I know at the time of this recording, the first four people who sign up will get that opportunity to have a very distinct one-to-one consultation with Dr. TJ and myself. And so I would hate for you to miss out on that.
So head to Krave wellness.com/retreat and. Apply. We, we'd love to have you in this circle. Yeah,
Dr. Tyrrell Jenkins: absolutely. It's gonna [00:14:00] be a lot of fun. And that one-to-one time is gonna allow people to really talk about their individual issues, what their journey has been about. And even if you're not in the first, you know, four who enroll, this is gonna be five days of great information.
You're gonna feel really fulfilled at the end.
Michelle Fox: Yes. So again, I love that you have this resource for people who are struggling with i v s. Yeah. And I love that you will be available for those of us who may struggle with other issues, whether it is around sleep or specifically with our gut. And so for my friends who are listening, Dr.
Tj, do you have three things that perhaps they can look at even just today, to start building a healthier gut?
Dr. Tyrrell Jenkins: Yeah, so there's an interesting, probiotic prebiotic strain called Akkermansia. we can put in the show notes and if you look into it, [00:15:00] It is a strain that helps produce what is called mucin, which is a nice gut layer, a nice gut barrier in your intestines, and we're finding that that helps support your immune system.
It helps decrease, permeability, which is like leaky, Gut is a, is a term that you've probably heard on social media, which decreases, you know, the infection rates or fatigue or brain fog issues. So looking into prebiotics and probiotics, that's one thing. that can be a, a, a high suggestion. the other thing is starting a food symptom journal.
So, and what that means is if you're noticing that you're having indigestion, loose stools, constipation, brain fog, all these things, you want to kind of create a food symptom journal. When are you feeling those symptoms? What are the foods that you ate in the past 24 hours? And see if there is a connection, a pattern, because most likely you have a sensitivity to those [00:16:00] foods and it doesn't mean you have an allergy.
Per se, but you have a sensitivity where you're having problems breaking that down. Third thing is everyone is, we're all individuals, right? So there's no one size that fits all approach. So when it comes to vitamins, a lot of times I have patients, come to me because they're on so many different vitamins.
They're not sure when to take it, what to take, and a lot of times, many of them aren't even necessary. But in certain cases, certain vitamins may be necessary for you. So, we'll cover that at our retreat for sure. so it's based on your medical background, what vitamins may be more important, more essential for you.
So I would say if you want to start at the basics, maybe like a multivitamin every other day, if you have a very well-balanced diet. But you really want to take into account what's your own, medical background. So if you're, for instance, let's say for instance, a vegan or a vegetarian, you might benefit from a vitamin b12, you know, supplement.[00:17:00]
Or if you have heavy menstrual cycles, you probably would benefit from iron supplements. Now, taking iron supplements every day can cause constipation. So maybe changing it to every other day, it's beneficial. So that's what I mean, that every, you know, every vitamin is not meant for everyone. and kind of during a deep dive on, what your situation is.
So that's the third point, is his not becoming overwhelmed, but really focusing on what are your
Michelle Fox: needs. Hmm. And I love the reminder to review our vitamins cuz a lot of us, even in adulthood, we're still taking the vitamins that our parents shared with us as children or you know, maybe our doctor in college.
And so I so appreciate that nudge to look at like, well, My body's changed. So do I really still need, you know, the
Dr. Tyrrell Jenkins: Flinstone vitamins,
Michelle Fox: right? Oh gosh. Don't get me going. Huh? Those No, I'm, I get on my soapbox with all the sugar and the [00:18:00] health washing. I get so upset when people, tell me that they are taking things.
Yeah, like the flinstone vitamins, because. Badly. The marketing has told people, this is good for you. And I'm like, oh, it's necessary. Oh, it's not necessary. Can you read the label? And it's like, what? 80% sugar? Like do dyes,
Dr. Tyrrell Jenkins: artificial dyes and things like that? Yeah.
Michelle Fox: That gets me going. Okay. So yeah, so then just to reiterate, and you saw me making notes cuz I always learned something when I'm with you, Dr.
Tj. the three steps we can take today. And I do stress today because a lot of times we can hear things. I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll get to it. But hopefully my friends, you hear my voice saying today. In fact, if you wanna pause this podcast today,
We are going to look at taking a prebiotic and a probiotic. We are going to find a place where we [00:19:00] can journal our food intake as far as how it's affecting our body so that we can really just look closer at. Hmm, do I have a sensitivity to this particular food?
And then lastly, we are going to review our vitamins. A lot of us are still taking vitamins from childhood that perhaps aren't serving us, and or perhaps we're missing some key nutrients that it's time to incorporate. So did I get those three steps correct? Yeah. You got it. That's it.
Dr. Tyrrell Jenkins: So Michelle, when you ask me about gut health, gut health to me means this comprehensive approach to having a balanced microbiome, meeting all your nutritional needs, feeling that your, your entire body is imbalanced. Because when your gut health is poor, it can affect your brain, it can affect your thyroid, it can affect your immune system.
So good [00:20:00] gut health is key to, overall
Michelle Fox: wellness. Thank you for sharing that, including, I know a lot of my community can often complain about something seemingly unrelated to gut health, so it's, oh, I struggle with migraines. Oh, I get hot flashes. Oh, I have this anxiety and intuitively, Nine times outta 10, I wanna say, well, let's look at your gut help.
Like, what are you eating? How, how are you feeling on the inside? Like, let's talk about how the food, the supplements, the minerals you're ingesting can actually help you to solve some of those things. And so do you see that in your practice as far as people coming in, perhaps complaining about one thing and then you're very clear that, let's work on the gut health first, and then naturally things will heal themselves.[00:21:00]
Yeah,
Dr. Tyrrell Jenkins: absolutely. You know, one of the big example is fatigue, feeling tired. And so one of the things in addition to just checking thyroid panel blood test is a vitamin B12 level. You'll see that they have a vitamin B12 deficiency, so the lack of either red meat intake or an autoimmune condition. So when you address that, It then addresses the fatigue that they're feeling or the numbness of tingling that they're experiencing in their fingers or toes.
So a lot of things are tied into how we're absorbing things in our food, what we're consuming in our food, which can either be, pro health for us, or it can actually, cause problems for us. Increase inflammation.
Michelle Fox: Mm-hmm. And now I'm actually curious, like how did you get into this work specifically around the gut health?
And I know you help and heal patients with all kinds of issues. However, the work that I've leaned in, that I've seen on your Instagram [00:22:00] feed and even the conversations you and I have, it sounds like you have a real gift for helping people look at their gut health. So how did you come to that? Yeah, that's a good
Dr. Tyrrell Jenkins: question.
So actually in medical school, I, really. Was focused on, don't wanna be a gastroenterologist, sorry for any of my friends who are GI doctors watching us. But you know, after the fifth colonoscopy I sat in on, I was like, you know, this is not, well, this is not for me. I wanna actually help people. And so, and I, I mean they obviously do help people, but I.
It's when you sit across from someone and you really dive deep into the problems that they're having, digestive issues, you find that it has impacted multiple layers of their life. And so it starts from that part, and then you can actually make dedicated changes towards improvement. So that's why I've been more focused in this area, wanting to make a.
Impact besides just procedures, but wanting to actually see, [00:23:00] true changes. your digestive system has, like I said, an an important link to your mental health, to your immune system, to your thyroid gland, everything
Michelle Fox: that makes so much sense. And so the preventative health is what lights you up versus when it's too late and you're looking at all the disease that people that.
You and your colleagues trying heal your shoes. Yep. Mm Oh, that's wonderful. Got
moving into your dream and passion that I know because we're friends and that is creating this retreat. I know this has been a dream of yours for a while, so can you tell me a few things that you are actually looking forward to in hosting this retreat? Yeah,
Dr. Tyrrell Jenkins: I, I really am looking forward to connecting with people.
So it's a small group setting as opposed to like social media, it's very distant. So in my private practice, obviously it's 1 0 1, so you have that intimacy. And at our retreat, by [00:24:00] the group size being so small, we can do the same thing, but also in a fun environment. You're in a Caribbean, so how can that not be, you know, how can that not be fun at the same time?
So that's what I'm looking forward to, is helping people in such a small group while we're all helping each other and having fun at the same time, enjoying ourselves. and then the cooking classes, I mean, we all need some help, so I'm very.
Michelle Fox: I would
Dr. Tyrrell Jenkins: say that's another thing I'm looking forward to. I feel like, I might not be the best assistant for you, but I'll
Michelle Fox: try and you know, I'll put you to work.
I know, I know. I know for sure, for sure. Awesome. I am. So excited. Like I said, at the top of the hour, I am already packing my bags and I'm wearing my beach clothes cause I am ready for that dreamy house that we have booked that is right on the ocean.
Dr. Tyrrell Jenkins: Yeah, I [00:25:00] think the workshops are gonna be amazing and because we can do some of the outside by the pool, we can do them inside in the living room.
We have an outdoor seating area, so, Although they will be, you know, medical workshops, they're gonna be interactive and they're gonna be relevant. So we won't have to talk about things that aren't applicable. It won't be like school. This is gonna be, knowledge that you can get, that you can bring home with you and make those necessary changes based on what digestive issues you're having.
Michelle Fox: I cannot wait to share this with my community and. I'm also gonna claim my new community. I, it's really gonna be interesting to see who we manifest and attract to this circle. I'm, I'm really excited to love them up from It's gonna be fun. Yeah. So as per usual, when I spend time with you, the time just flies by.
So before we completely map up, is there anything else you [00:26:00] wanna add?
Dr. Tyrrell Jenkins: So check out our website, crave Wellness. Crave is with a k.com/retreat. we have a lot of information on there. If you have any questions, reach out to Michelle or I, DM on social media. Send an email, get in touch with us.
Happy to help.
Michelle Fox: So with that, Dr. Tj, I just wanna say thank you for the work that you do in the world. Thank you for pouring into this retreat, and thank you for being my partner. I'm really excited to see how we can nurture and heal this community. Thank you for having
Dr. Tyrrell Jenkins: me, Michelle. It's been a pleasure as always.
Michelle Fox: Thanks so much for listening to Healthy Sexy Nutrition. Have you been driving, doing laundry or walking around the neighborhood? Sweet. I've got show notes for [email protected] [00:27:00] slash podcast. Click over there when you are ready. I will let you know that on the page you will find resources to support what you just learned on today's show.
And of course, , you can grab some health supportive freebies as well. If you enjoyed this episode, I would be so honored if you would leave a review on whichever podcast platform you are listening on. It will help me with my mission to build healthier communities one person at a time. Big love from your favorite culinary nutritionist and health coach, and until next week, keep showing up for yourself and know that you and your health matter. [00:28:00]
