Gut Problems: Unmasking the Daily Culprits

Jazmine Corona is a certified Nutritional Therapy Practitioner and Professional Member of the National Association of Nutrition Professionals with advanced training in Holistic Nutrition, Functional Blood Chemistry, and Functional Medicine principles.

Leslie: So tell us, how did you start working in this sphere? What was your journey?

Jazmine: Before I even got into holistic medicine, functional nutrition, all the good things like that, I actually suffered with my own chronic conditions. So I was diagnosed with multiple autoimmune conditions at the age of 15 years old, and I was just constantly in and out of the hospital, put on so many different medications, antibiotics, steroids, you name it and I was probably on it. I just had this growing list of symptoms from gut issues to brain issues: low energy, joint pain, et cetera; and it just kind of kept compounding on one another. And so, it just dawned on me one day when I ended up in the hospital and I was in there for a whole week. I honestly was like, on my deathbed and I was young, I was 21 years old, and I just said to myself, “This cannot be the rest of my life. This is not my normal”, because they constantly tell you that this is going to be your new normal. This is what you're just going to have to deal with because you have autoimmune conditions, and I just totally did not want that to be my new normal. 

So, I decided to start looking into alternative medicine and started changing my nutrition. It had some improvements in my symptoms. I eventually did a whole detoxification program with, actually a nutritional therapy practitioner, which is what I do now, and within three to six months, my symptoms were completely gone. 

Leslie: Tell us about the kinds of issues that clients come to you with. What are some common things you hear about, and maybe those issues will sort of resonate with our audience.

Jazmine:  Yeah, so the most common symptoms that honestly everyone who comes to me have are gut issues and low energy. These are usually the first two symptoms that pop up when you start having some type of imbalance in your body. Gut issues are always paired with some other symptoms. Maybe that's painful periods, maybe you're skipping a period. Maybe it's irregular periods, skin issues- maybe it's acne– maybe even autoimmunity, or joint pain. 

Leslie: Tell us about some of the root causes so people come to you with these issues. Is there a general protocol that you take people through and what are some of the things that drive these problems?

Jazmine: Most often, they're going to have different root causes because we are just so individualized, and I want to take that into account. So, the most common thing you'll hear is, inflammation is the root cause of every single symptom out there. And yes, that is definitely true, Yes, we have inflammation going on, but with our approach, we like to dig deeper into what is actually driving that inflammation. And so that's when we start looking at your nutrition; for example, are you not eating enough protein? Are you consuming processed foods that have a ton of artificial vegetable oils that are inflammatory, or even red dye? Toxins are hidden in everything, they’re in our food. Like I was talking about, those artificial colors– the red dye– are environmental toxins. Just like mold and their byproduct, mycotoxins, which are usually found in 80% of homes. So, these are some things that we can't avoid 100% of the time; however, we can be aware of them and we can do what we can. And so that means minimizing our exposure to those toxins as much as we can. So those are honestly the most common toxins and root causes that we see with gut issues.

Leslie: What's a good oil? What's a bad oil? Why would it even matter? Can you talk more about that?

Jazmine: With the vegetable oils that I'm talking about are going to be most often the canola oil, the soybean oil, the cotton seed oil. All of these oils have been overly processed, and when you ultra process oils, they basically become undone. So they're not stabilized anymore, and they become toxic to the body. I recommend avocado oil. You can also do ghee, which is clarified grass-fed butter. So that's also something that you have to really have to look at on the labels is making sure it's a hundred percent grass-fed butter. What about for olive oil? Just make sure it's extra virgin olive oil. And you want to make sure all these oils are either extra virgin or organic, and it has to be a hundred percent organic.

Leslie: You kind of work with a person to look at what they're coming in contact with regularly. How do you get people into reset? Is it just lifestyle changes, or do you detox? What do you do with your clients?

Jazmine: After we fix the nervous system which affects the gut, there are four phases in our gut-healing protocol, and it is usually different for different people. This really targets the gut for people dealing with gut problems. The first phase is to remove-- to remove any of that irritant, such as toxins, personal care products, infections, even food. The second phase is replace-- to replace any kind of gut dysfunction. For example, we can replace bile, stomach acid, et cetera. The third phase is repair, for example, repairing the gut with leaky gut, using supplements such as al-glutamine and aloe vera juice. Then we jump into the rebuild phase to rebuild our gut microbiomes, eating probiotic-food. Then we use detoxification, and we can rebuild the whole body with more gut support, nutrients, hormone support, whatever you need. 

Leslie: How can people find you and engage with you?

Jazmine: You can find me on Instagram and TikTok at @organicallyglow. I break down all of this information and have a 7-day free program with a meal program to build your gut and reduce gut inflammation.