"Your Gut Knows: The Spiritual and Natural Science of Digestive Health"
Download MP3Hey, you. Welcome back to Medium with a Mic. I'm your host, Carrie Bandle. Today, I'm discussing something personal for me, and I have a feeling it may just be personal for you too. I'm gonna talk about your gut.
Kari Bandle:I know this is not exactly what you expected from me today, but here's the thing. I have had a lifelong struggle with my gut, my digestion, and I know a lot of others do also. So why not? Maybe it will help someone. Right?
Kari Bandle:I'm excited about it. Your gut is not just a digestive organ. It's a spiritual antenna. We've talked about it before. It's your second brain.
Kari Bandle:It's the place where your intuition lives in your body. And if you've ever had a gut feeling, you already know I'm right. As I said, I've dealt with gut issues for years. And as a Virgo, which in medical astrology rules the digestive system, I sometimes think my chart was just trying to tell me something from the very beginning. Today, I wanna dig into what's actually happening in your gut, why so many of us, especially empaths, struggle with it, and what natural tools can genuinely help.
Kari Bandle:Plus, I included a little truth bomb for you about grapefruit and your prescriptions. This is going to make you want to have a word with your doctor, maybe, which I personally rarely ever see a doctor once a year only because I have to. But, anyway... So the verbal connection. If you follow astrology at all, you may already know that each sign of the zodiac rules a part of the body, and Virgo, the sign of discernment, analysis, service, and purity rules the digestive system, the intestines, the gut microbiome, the process of taking in what nourishes you and releasing what doesn't.
Kari Bandle:Think about that symbolically for a second. Virgo energy is all about sorting through what's useful and what isn't, discerning what serves and what harms, processing experience with precision. Sound familiar? That's exactly what your gut does on a physical level every single day. When I first connected these dots, it stopped me in my tracks because I'm a Virgo, and I have had gut issues most of my adult life.
Kari Bandle:I used to think it was just bad luck or bad genetics, maybe having too many babies. There's a million reasons you can think of. But when you understand that your astrological blueprint can reflect the genetic themes in your physical body, it starts to make a different kind of sense. Now I'm not saying your chart is your destiny, but I am saying it's worth paying attention to. The soul came into this body with intention, and sometimes the body's struggles are part of the deeper experience the soul is navigating.
Kari Bandle:For Virgo placements, sun, moon, rising, or a strong sixth house, digestive sensitivity is a real theme. So if you have strong Virgo energy and you've always struggled with your gut, you're not imagining it, and you're not alone. Let's do the science for a minute because I want you to understand what's actually happening in there, and it's really actually kind of cool. Your gut contains what researchers call the enteric nervous system, a network of over 5,000,000 nerve cells lining your digestive tract. That's more neurons than there are in your spinal cord.
Kari Bandle:Scientists now call it the second brain, and it communicates directly with your actual brain through the vagus nerve which we've talked about on this show previously. Here's what gets really interesting. About 90 to 90 per... Five percent of your body's serotonin, the transmitter most associated with mood, well-being, and happiness, is produced in your gut, not your brain, your gut. So when your gut is inflamed, compromised, or out of balance, your mood suffers.
Kari Bandle:Your sleep suffers. Your nervous system suffers. Your ability to feel joy, to feel calm, to feel connected, all of that is downstream of gut health. And for empaths, this is even more significant because empaths process emotional and energetic information at a much higher intensity than the average person. That processing creates a chronic low level stress response in the nervous system, and chronic stress is one of the primary drivers of gut inflammation and digestive dysfunction.
Kari Bandle:In other words, if you're an empath and you have gut issues, that's not a coincidence. Your gut is responding to everything you're absorbing from the world around you. So here's where it gets spiritual. We've all had gut feelings that sudden knowing, the visceral sense of something is wrong or this is right before your brain has had time to catch up. We've all felt the physical sensation of anxiety in the stomach, the butterflies, the tightening, the nausea that comes before something big.
Kari Bandle:That is biology. Your gut brain, enter... The enteric nervous system is processing information constantly, and it communicates that information to your actual brain faster than conscious thought can form. When you have a gut feeling, your body has already run the data. Your intuition speaks first through the body.
Kari Bandle:In the chakra system, the solar plexus chakra located just above the navel is the seat of personal power, will, identity, and discernment. It's the chakra of knowing yourself, and it sits right in the middle of the digestive system. When your solar plexus chakra is balanced, you trust yourself. You act from a place of inner authority. You discern clearly.
Kari Bandle:When it's out of balance, often from unprocessed shame, powerlessness, or boundary violations, you second guess yourself. You can't trust your knowing, and physically, the digestive system often reflects that imbalance. I want you to sit with that because for many of us, especially those of us who spent years in people pleasing, over giving, and not trusting ourselves, the gut issues aren't just physical. They're the body keeping score. I'm not anti medicine.
Kari Bandle:There are things doctors do extraordinarily well. If I break my leg, I want a doctor. If I have a heart attack, I want to go to the hospital. Western medicine is remarkable for acute crisis, but for chronic conditions, especially gut related ones, I think the conventional medical model consistently under serves us. Here's one very specific example that I just have to tell you about.
Kari Bandle:Have you ever been to a doctor or a pharmacist and had them tell you not to drink grapefruit juice while taking a certain medication? Most of us have heard of this, and have you ever wondered why? Have you ever been told why? Here's the answer: Grapefruit contains compounds called ferrin coumarins and specifically bergamotin and naringin. These compounds inhibit an enzyme in your gut called CYP3A4.
Kari Bandle:That enzyme is responsible for breaking down a huge number of medications in your body. When CYP3A4 is blocked, The drug isn't metabolized properly and its concentration in your bloodstream can shoot up dramatically sometimes to dangerous levels. So the doctor says don't eat grapefruit because it will make your drug more potent. My question has always been, if grapefruit does what the drug does, why aren't we looking at grapefruit? This is just how my brain works, but I understand the answer is partly about dosing.
Kari Bandle:You can't dose a piece of fruit the way you can a pharmaceutical, but I also think there's a bigger conversation to be had about why we reach for a synthetic molecule before we ask what the natural world has already figured out. Your gut is the first place your body meets the world. Every substance you take in, every chemical, every food, every supplement passes through that digestive process. And nature has been running that experiment for millions of years longer than the pharmaceutical industry has. So let me get into some natural support that actually works, at least for me.
Kari Bandle:Turmeric and curcumin. I'm gonna start with turmeric because I take it myself, and I want you to understand exactly why it works. Turmeric's active compound is curcumin, and curcumin is one of the most studied natural anti inflammatory compounds in existence. For the gut specifically, here's what it does. It reduces gut inflammation at the cellular level, which is the root cause of most chronic digestive disorders.
Kari Bandle:It stimulates bile production in the gallbladder, which aids fat digestion. It acts as a prebiotic, supporting the beneficial bacteria in your microbiome. It helps repair and protect the gut lining, critical for those dealing with leaky gut. It relaxes the smooth muscle of the digestive tract, reducing bloating and cramping. Here's the critical thing most people don't know.
Kari Bandle:Curcumin is its own, on its own is poorly absorbed by the body. The bioavailability is very low, but if you combine it with black pepper, specifically the compound piperine and black pepper, absorption increases by up to 2000%. So look at your turmeric supplement. If it contains black pepper or piperine, you're in great shape. If it doesn't, it may not be doing much.
Kari Bandle:This is one of those things your doctor probably won't tell you, not because they're withholding, but because they simply weren't trained on it. And, frankly, they don't have a lot of time in that little fifteen minute slot they gave you. Ginger. I know you've seen this. The ginger candies for digestion or heard about it, and here's why it works.
Kari Bandle:Ginger is one of the most powerful digestive aids in the natural world. It accelerates gastric emptying, meaning it helps food move through your stomach more efficiently, which reduces nausea, bloating, and that heavy feeling after meals. It's anti inflammatory, antimicrobial, and it supports the gut lining. Fresh ginger tea before or after meals is one of the simplest things you can do for your digestive health. Aloe vera not just for sunburns, aloe vera juice, the inner gel specifically, not the outer leaf which contains laxative compounds, is deeply soothing to the inflamed gut lining.
Kari Bandle:It's particularly helpful for acid reflux, IBS, and inflammatory bowel conditions. So look for inner fillet aloe juice and start with small amounts. Fermented foods and probiotics. Your gut biome is a community of trillions of bacteria, fungi, and other microorganisms, and the balance of that community affects everything from your digestion to your mood to your immune function. Fermented foods like sauerkraut, kimchi, kefir, yogurt, kombucha introduce beneficial bacteria naturally.
Kari Bandle:If you can't tolerate fermented foods, a high quality probiotic supplement is worth exploring. One thing I can say is that these items from a store are not always what they appear to be. For instance, when a fermented item is canned, it has heat applied for the seal or or in a jar. They apply heat like canning, the canning process. This can ruin those bacteria.
Kari Bandle:I realized that you probably cannot make everything from scratch, but I had a blast making several flavors of sauerkraut with these massive heads of cabbage that I got at a farm stand a few years ago. But what you can do though is look for a cold pack, unpasteurized fermented foods, perhaps in bags with life cultures. Just read the label. She'll see it. Digestive bitters.
Kari Bandle:This one is ancient and wildly underused. Digestive bitters are herbal preparations, usually containing plants like dandelion or artichoke that stimulate the production of digestive enzymes and bile when you taste them. The bitter taste itself is the signal to the body to prepare for digestion. Taking a small amount of bitters before meals can dramatically improve how efficiently you digest food. Bone broth Rich in collagen, gelatin, and amino acids like glutamine, bone broth is one of the most healing foods for a compromised gut lining.
Kari Bandle:It literally provides the building blocks your gut uses to repair itself. If you're dealing with leaky gut, IBS, or an inflammatory gut condition, regular bone broth is worth adding. If you try some and you find you don't like the taste, don't give up. I did that once. Just try another brand, another kind.
Kari Bandle:Here are a few brands to try. The best for sipping is Roli Rota... Roti Butchers, ginger and turmeric chicken bone broth available in the refrigerator section. It's a jiggly, gelatin rich broth that tastes like high end chicken soup. Then there's shelf stable option called kettle and fire, which has organic ingredients and apple cider vinegar.
Kari Bandle:They even have a turmeric, ginger, and mushroom chicken flavor. Lastly, try brodo.com. Hearth Bone Broth is highly recommended by food reviewers. The next is magnesium. Magnesium is involved in over 300 enzymatic reactions in the body and most of us are chronically deficient in it.
Kari Bandle:For the gut, magnesium helps regulate motility, keeping things moving through the digestive tract, and it's a powerful anti inflammatory. Magnesium glycinate is gentle on the gut and highly absorbable. Many people find it also dramatically improves sleep and anxiety, which, as we've discussed, are intimately connected to the gut health. Be mindful when shopping for a quality supplement for magnesium. It comes in many forms, all for specific targets.
Kari Bandle:I buy most of my supplements from Pro Caps Labs. I'm sorry, I'm getting a little tongue tied, actually I bought from Procaps Labs for about thirty years, and they understand that the US RDA recommended daily allowance are based upon someone's best guess a long time ago, and these supplements are packed full of exactly what you need and what you need to take with it to help it absorb. So when shopping, look for quality sourced organic ingredients. Okay. Now I wanna spend a few minutes specifically talking to my empaths and the audience again because this is real, and I don't think it's talked about enough.
Kari Bandle:Empaths absorb energy. That's just the reality of what we do. We walk into a room and we feel the emotional field of that room. We sit across from someone in pain and we feel their pain in our own body. We watch the news and we feel the suffering in it.
Kari Bandle:We grieve for people we've never met. That constant energetic intake has a physical cost. And one of the primary places that shows up is in the gut. The vagus nerve, the superhighway between your gut and your brain is highly responsive to stress and emotional input. For empaths who are effectively running a constant elevated emotional processing load, the vagus nerve is often in a state of low grade activation and that sends a steady signal of stress to the gut.
Kari Bandle:This is why so many empaths deal with IBS, gut inflammation, food sensitivities, and digestive irregularity that has no clear medical explanation. There isn't always a physical cause to find. Sometimes the cause is energetic. So, what do you do? Here's a few things.
Kari Bandle:The first is grounding practices. That's huge. Grounding is so important. Physical contact with the earth, barefoot if possible. If it's wintertime or you can't get outside, look down at your feet.
Kari Bandle:It helps discharge the accumulated energetic load from your system. Second is boundaries, and I mean real energetic boundaries, not just saying no. They are gut health practices. Every time you hold someone else's energy in your body, your gut is processing it. So, set boundaries.
Kari Bandle:Third is regular energetic clearing. Whatever that looks like for you. I ground, clear, and protect my energy every single day as many times as it takes. Whatever it looks like for you though, whether it's meditation, salt baths, breath work, or cord cutting work, is as important for your gut as what you eat. The vagus nerve practices we've talked about on this show humming, gargling, cold water directly calm the gut brain connection.
Kari Bandle:Your gut is not broken It's responding to what you're carrying, and that means the path forward isn't just physical. It's energetic and spiritual too. I want to close this section with something a little different, a reframe. Digestion is not just a bodily function. It is a metaphor for how we process life.
Kari Bandle:What are you taking in? What are you actually nourishing yourself with? And not just food, but information, relationships, environments, energy. What are you holding onto that you need to release? What are you struggling to digest?
Kari Bandle:Great questions to ask yourself. Virgo energy at its highest expression is discernment. The ability to look at what comes in and say, this serves me. This doesn't. This nourishes.
Kari Bandle:This depletes. This is truth, and this is noise. So learn discernment. When we apply that kind of conscious discernment to everything we consume, food, media, relationships, energy, the gut often responds, not immediately and not magically, but over time, when we stop feeding ourselves things that harm us, things begin to shift. The body is always trying to return to homeostasis, always trying to heal.
Kari Bandle:Your job is to stop putting obstacles in its way and to trust that it knows what it's doing. And maybe if you're a Virgo or you have strong Virgo energy, your gut is not your weakness. It's your teacher. Alright, sweet souls. That's what I've got for you today on gut health, the spiritual second brain, and a little righteous grapefruit indignation.
Kari Bandle:Here are the big takeaways. First, your gut is literally a second brain. 500,000,000 neurons, most of your serotonin direct line to your emotional and spiritual state. For empaths gut health is energetic health you cannot separate those two. The solar plexus chakra and the gut are speaking the same language and healing one often means healing the other.
Kari Bandle:Turmeric with black pepper, ginger, fermented foods, magnesium, and digestive bitters are your natural allies. The grapefruit thing is real and it's worth asking harder questions of your health care providers. Your body is always trying to heal. Give it what it needs and get out of its way. If this episode resonated with you, please share it with someone who needs it.
Kari Bandle:Give it a thumbs up and subscribe and comment. And if you've been finding value in the show, and I certainly hope you have, consider buying me a coffee over at buymeacoffee.com/mediumwithamic. The show is completely ad free and listener supported, and every cup of coffee helps the whispers keep coming. So look for the link in the podcast notes or on my podcast page at sacredwhispers1111.com. Until next time, keep listening to those whispers of wisdom.
