E7 S2 | Breaking Down the Barriers to Eating Well So Bodies Can Heal - Kristina Evans Functional Nutritionist Counselor

Welcome to Episode 7, Season 2 of the Sick and Seeking Podcast!

In this episode, I sit down with Kristina Evans, a Functional Nutritionist Counselor at Annyssa Wellness. Recently, I've been working with Kristina to improve my diet, and I can honestly say that the changes have made a significant impact on my gut health and overall well-being.

Kristina's compassionate approach truly stands out. She meets you where you are, offering support without judgment, which has been invaluable on my journey with food. I’m excited to share this enlightening conversation with you.

Conversation Highlights:

• Working with a Functional Nutritionist: Kristina discusses her role in helping clients break down barriers to healthy eating and body healing.
• Understanding Inflammation: We explore how the gut often plays a central role in inflammation and its connection to various health conditions.
• Digestion Breakdown: Kristina explains how each part of the digestive system contributes to overall health and the issues that arise when things aren't functioning well.
• Building a Healthy Microbiome: Tips on consuming a diverse diet rich in soluble fiber to support gut health.
• Gut-Brain Connection: The importance of reconnecting the mind with the body for optimal health.
• Long-Term Healing Journey: Healing often requires time and support, and Kristina emphasizes this need throughout the process.
• The 80/20 Rule: Guidance on approaching food in a balanced way without feeling overwhelmed.

Quote:

“We don't talk about it. Why would I be excited about it? Because I have seen healing occur. If you can get the gut working correctly, then you will heal. You will be able to dare I say, go into remission from a lot of conditions. You will calm them down. The distance between flares will extend and the severity of flares will decrease. That's the beauty of working in the gut.” - Kristina Evans 

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Transcript

Leslie Field (00:01.849)

Hello, Kristina. It's so lovely to have you here with me today on the Sick and Seeking podcast.

Kristina Evans (00:07.426)

Thanks for having me. I'm thrilled to be here.

Leslie Field (00:10.729)

Oh my gosh, we finally made it happen. We have, that's a long story. We have Christina Evans, and she is a certified functional nutrition counselor at Anissa Wellness. Well, before I really hand it over to Christina, I think it's important I give a background story about how this whole relationship came to be. So Christina and I connected through a functional medical doctor.

And let's just say I came kicking and screaming to the whole nutrition part. I have a lot of skepticism slash not great memories of nutritionists. So when I was coming into my first meeting with Christine, I was like, I don't know about this lady. I don't know. I don't know about her. However, I will say a few things. Number one, I did come in kicking and screaming, but

Kristina Evans (00:50.614)

Mm-hmm.

Kristina Evans (00:56.212)

Hahahaha

Leslie Field (01:05.505)

I gotta say of all the nutritionists I've ever worked with, she is definitely the most fabulous. I totally trusted her more by the way, because I knew she was a trained chef. So I was like, all right, this woman actually really does love food. So I have a little bit more faith and trust in her. So that was really a good thing. And after our first conversation, and me being like, I don't know about all this. And remember, I signed up to do this. Like I've voluntold myself slash.

exchanged money to have this happen. So I was kind of in it and kind of not in it. And the number one phrase that this lovely lady said to me that actually convinced me to give it a shot. Now, remember, I've never wanted to touch my diet. I've never wanted to look at my food. You know, I will exercise. I'll sleep more. I'll take out the caffeine. I won't have alcohol. I'll do, I'll stand on my head if you ask me to. But the moment that you ask me,

to take or modify or sort of switch up the food and the diet, I was like, hell no. Well, that's why we're here today to have this conversation. Guys, I'm converted, I'm here. And so the thing that she said to me at the end of our first conversation was, what's on the other side of this you can't even imagine? Those were very powerful words and they were the...

Kristina Evans (02:07.658)

Yeah. Ha ha ha.

Leslie Field (02:33.165)

perfect words I needed to motivate me to give it a try. So without further ado, Christina, tell me all about you, what you do, and how the heck did you convince me to actually do this? Ha ha ha.

Kristina Evans (02:46.326)

Well, you know, each person is different. So you got to read the room. I'll start there. But basically, I mean, what I do as a functional nutrition counselor is I break down the barriers for people to be able to eat well so that their bodies can heal. And it sounds simple, but it's not.

Leslie Field (02:52.329)

Yeah.

Leslie Field (03:02.55)

Mmm.

Leslie Field (03:10.789)

Mm-mm. Ha ha.

Kristina Evans (03:12.686)

It is not simple. And the reason that it's not simple is that it's not, we're not just dealing with anatomy. We're not just dealing with physiology. We're actually dealing with a whole person and your whole emotional self, right? And we forget that food is very much tied to our emotions and our emotions are very much tied to food. So when you start poking at that and you start

wading into the pool of someone's diet, it can be a very, very emotional experience. I know.

Leslie Field (03:51.957)

Mm-hmm. No, I would-

emotional eater? No.

Kristina Evans (03:59.37)

even if you don't define yourself as an emotional eater, we still have memories associated with foods because food engages all of our senses. We don't just, the way we're wired, we don't just put food in our mouth and suddenly get energy. It's like...

Leslie Field (04:02.191)

Mm-hmm.

Kristina Evans (04:18.706)

I don't know how to, it's not a test tube, right? We actually have taste buds. We actually have a sense of smell. We actually see the food with our eyes. And so, digestion begins with seeing the food, smelling the food. That's when our digestion begins. And so you start tapping into all of those senses and it can be scary. It can be hard. It can...

Leslie Field (04:21.337)

Yeah.

Kristina Evans (04:47.958)

leave you crying over not getting McDonald's french fries anymore. You know, it's not to say that was you, I'm not suggesting that, but you know, it does happen that way. So my goal is always to break down those barriers. It's to sit with you when you have that emotional response.

Leslie Field (04:50.929)

Oh yes, yes.

Kristina Evans (05:07.302)

Okay, cry. You don't have to apologize for it. I get it. Like, I have my emotional ties to food too. Hold space for that. Make it a safe space to have that emotional response around food. And then we just slowly start to walk and break down the barriers that are keeping you from being able to eat in such a way that your body can heal. Because that's the ultimate goal, is getting you feeling better. And that's where we go.

And I would love to say, and we do this program here and we pull this string over here and it all works fine. But the fact is each person is so different that it's a different journey with each individual. And that's the exciting part.

Leslie Field (05:36.568)

Mm-hmm.

Leslie Field (05:49.509)

Hmm, wait till you hear more of her beautiful words because you have such a way when you guide people in this journey. I know that I can be really critical. I can be very judgy of myself and quite harsh. And so I just wanna presence, honor, and just say so much thanks to you for just like coming with this really beautiful way of yeah, just accepting where we're at and just sort of like gently helping us.

maybe get to where we want to go. And I just so appreciate that about you. And our journey was really starting with inflammation. So I wonder if that's maybe, is that too big a place to start? Oh, just a little inflammation.

Kristina Evans (06:33.162)

Hahaha

Okay, we'll just dive in head first, sure. Well, okay, so maybe I can just kind of describe the impact of inflammation on the body and generally where it's coming from. And then we can maybe get into a smaller area. Um. Ha ha.

Leslie Field (06:39.321)

Ha ha!

Leslie Field (06:53.167)

Ha ha!

Because that's where I started. I feel like it was like, and boom, we're going for the inflammation. So I was like, okay, but you can... Ha ha ha.

Kristina Evans (07:01.658)

Okay, why would we do that? No, actually inflammation is really important. Like I think I use this analogy with you as well. So inflammation in a visual way is like you're standing on the side of a clear natural pool of water. So you've been on a hike and you've found this beautiful woodland.

of water and it's hot and you're like I'm gonna step into this I'm gonna take my shoes off I'm gonna wade out into this beautiful clear water right the minute you wade out into that water the sediment comes up off the bottom of the pool and suddenly that water is super cloudy and you can't see your feet anymore you can't see the ground anymore that's inflammation

it's that muddied water where you can no longer see to the root. So, so much of functional work is going back upstream trying to get all of that sediment to calm down so that you can get to the root cause. That's the difference in functional medicine. That's the difference in that functional work is that we're trying to get back to root cause. Well, what's causing the downstream symptoms? Yes, the downstream symptoms are what

are actually interfering with your life, interrupting your ability to do the things that you wanna do. So you wanna address them, but that's really not where we're going. We're working our way back upstream and trying to get that cloudiness to calm.

The reason that we want to do that is inflammation is supposed in our bodies is a natural physiological thing. We have white blood cells that are part of our immune system and we want them to turn on and turn off. The problem is when you get to a place of chronic inflammation, the immune system no longer turns off.

Kristina Evans (09:01.602)

And so that's where the long-term downstream symptoms begin to come from. So to get to that inflammation, we have to go right back to the center. And what's in the center of your body? Physically, it's your digestion. It's literally the center of your being. And so it makes sense even from an anatomy side.

Um, but from that kind of, I don't know, like visual side, right? Like we can, we can visually see that our digestion, of course, is like the center of our body, so maybe we can make a little bit of a leap, um, and say, okay, if that's the center of our body, maybe it's the sem, the system in our body that's going to impact everything else. And so then we start looking at the digestion as the hub of a wheel.

and every other system, neurologic, cardio, emotional, everything, all the other systems start to come off that hub. And so if you can calm the inflammation in the center, guess what you're gonna do?

You're going to calm the inflammation and all the other systems. And so when you start to work with someone like myself, you're coming in and you're most people, most people are like, I need to change my diet. I'm like, cool. Okay. Let's talk. And then they're like, wait a minute. That's not what I signed up for it because I'm going to say yes. Ultimately we're going to change your diet.

Leslie Field (10:32.27)

Mm-hmm.

Leslie Field (10:37.91)

Hahaha

Kristina Evans (10:43.894)

Yes, of course we'll get you eating healthier. Yes, we'll make it a sustainable thing. But before we get there, we actually have some inflammation work to do because inflammation really is the root of so many of our symptoms that are way downstream that have been years in manifesting.

Leslie Field (10:53.069)

Mmm.

Leslie Field (11:04.001)

Yeah. Yes. Yeah. No, no, no. I was like, there was something I wanted to say, which was the part that, you know, I've dabbled in health and wellness for a while here. I'm not an expert in any area, but you know, I've kept my ears and eyes open to information. But the one piece I've never heard of connected to inflammation, like I kind of understood sort of what it meant.

Kristina Evans (11:09.477)

Too much?

Leslie Field (11:31.149)

But the piece that really got me was when you said that it's sort of like the immune system is just always on. It can't like chill out. And then I was like, oh, that would be really tough for my body, wouldn't it?

Kristina Evans (11:43.722)

Right, right. So if you think about how the immune system is supposed to work, let's use the example of you cut your finger, right? Your immune system, your white blood cells rush to the site of the injury and you're going to have pain, redness, swelling, and heat. Those are the four parts of manifestation of inflammation.

And so it's there to help you heal from that injury. It's there to clot the blood to start making a scab so that you can seal it up, make sure there's no bacteria that's coming in through that cut. Your immune system holds space around that cut and keeps an eye on it. You've got like...

What's the word I'm looking for? You've got like police officers who are keeping an eye to make sure that you crowd control. Like there's nothing happening here folks other than healing, move along, you know? That's what inflammation, that's what the immune system is supposed to do. Go to that site, heal the injury, turn off. And then it just waits under the current. And then maybe we get introduced to a virus and that virus shows up in our blood and...

The immune system goes, hey, foreign invader, get it. And it attacks. And what do we do? We get congestion. We get a fever. That fever brings redness. We feel that exhaustion. That's all our immune system working. The first thing that we get when we get a fever, the first thing that we do is you grab something off the shelf to get rid of that fever.

Leslie Field (13:09.683)

Mm-hmm.

Leslie Field (13:29.131)

Mm-hmm.

Kristina Evans (13:31.51)

But the fever is actually proof that your immune system is in fact working, it's doing its job. So I'm one of those crazy people, I'm like, let your fever run unless it's like really impossible, then help it out a little bit, you know?

Leslie Field (13:43.545)

Well, I don't think you're crazy, but that's a whole other topic probably.

Kristina Evans (13:49.014)

I know, right? But, so this is the point. So the immune system is supposed to see something, fix it, turn off. Turn on, turn off, right? Like a light switch. In chronic inflammation, that's where the immune system never turns off. And then you go down the path of...

Leslie Field (13:58.87)

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Kristina Evans (14:12.87)

sometimes the immune system gets confused because it's been on for so long and strangely enough proteins from food look like proteins in our cells and then the immune system is like trying to clean up proteins and it's like but those proteins might be the same and so let me attack that and then that's the definition of autoimmune. Our immune system is attacking self so that's why you keep backing up.

Leslie Field (14:16.547)

Mmm.

Leslie Field (14:32.727)

Mmm.

Leslie Field (14:39.768)

Ugh.

Kristina Evans (14:42.658)

backing up trying to get to okay where's the inflammation coming from and most of the time it's the gut it's always centered in the gut so what do we do

Leslie Field (14:53.337)

Mm. Okay, well, yes. Before we maybe jump to the gut, just another small little topic that I just thought we could just start with. Ha ha ha. This is going all over the place. Poor Christina is like, she's rolling with me, which is great. I really appreciate you explaining it as you did.

Kristina Evans (15:06.19)

Hehehehehehe

Leslie Field (15:20.717)

And I know that you've explained it to me before. And every time I hear it, it's just such a great reminder that I'm in a place right now where I'm curious about how I can heal my body, right? And I don't really, you know, where do I start? There's so many systems, there's so many things. So to come to food and then have this conversation with you and to be actively doing this work right now, it's a great reminder that if I can...

help one system out, which is my digestion and the gut, and we're gonna talk about that, then yes, then my system is, I don't know if I have the right words. It's like it has a better chance at doing what it needs to do because our whole body and our whole, all of our system wants to move towards healing. That's its natural tendency is my understanding, but there's barriers kind of in the way of that happening.

Kristina Evans (16:08.915)

Yes.

Leslie Field (16:14.637)

So it's so great that you said this because it kind of gives me an idea of like, how do we calm down this one area and then how does it even interplay and interact with all the other areas that are struggling, right? So talk to me about the gut.

Kristina Evans (16:25.93)

Yeah, yes.

Kristina Evans (16:33.111)

So the gut is an interesting and beautiful thing. And it's actually the gut that got me here doing this work. So just as a little brief thing, so our daughter, when she was about 10 years old, had a viral infection

Leslie Field (16:42.326)

Mmm.

Kristina Evans (17:00.274)

Knowing what I know now that I didn't know then destroyed her microbiome. Completely just took it out.

Leslie Field (17:02.56)

Mm.

Kristina Evans (17:10.77)

And so I have a 10 year old child who is failing to gain weight, who has post infection irritable bowel syndrome that nobody can diagnose or fix, who has feelings of nausea all the time, who just feels awful. She's got higher anxiety. She's just struggling and nobody's got an answer. And

I was like, there has to be, I refuse that. I refuse that there is no answer. And so our path to healing was primarily over the course of three years, which is a really long time for a child. Can I just tell you? Like, she was not happy about it. But about three years of, okay, we have...

Leslie Field (17:54.659)

Mm. Yeah.

Kristina Evans (18:02.582)

All right, we're exercising, okay, we're sleeping, okay, we're, you know, she's a child, there's not that much stress. You know, we homeschool, you're fine, like I don't like, you know, I'm not looking after, I'm not looking for the really tough job that's causing, you know, you to stay awake at night. Like, it's not that, I'm looking at a child, right? And so I'm like, it has to be around what you're eating. It has, like, let's go back. At the time I was, you know, like incorporating.

probiotic foods. My husband was like, when I come home and turn on the faucet and it's fermented, we're going to have a problem. Like everything in my house was fermented. The ketchup, the mustard, the ranch dressing, everything. Like I was just trying to get probiotics into this kid. And so we did and, you know, we basically did an elimination diet without the terminology. And over time she healed.

Leslie Field (18:56.272)

Mmm.

Kristina Evans (19:00.262)

and then other things in our family came up and you learn more. And so fast forward to that same daughter of mine back in 2019, I was kind of at a crossroads and she said, why aren't you doing the thing that you love? And I was like, what do you mean? And she says, why are you not doing something that relates to the gut?

Leslie Field (19:22.308)

Mmm.

Kristina Evans (19:28.542)

She goes, I watch you talk about the gut. And she goes, you're the only person who gets super excited about it. She goes, but it's like your passion. And I was like, huh, I never thought about it. So, so then that began the journey. And this is where I end up is in this kind of place that I get to help people heal and I get to teach. And it's glorious. It's so much fun. So.

Leslie Field (19:34.019)

No.

Leslie Field (19:38.305)

Hahaha

Leslie Field (19:42.988)

Mm-hmm.

Kristina Evans (19:52.118)

That's the background of like, how do you get to the gut and why is it even exciting to you? Because you know, it's just like, it's just a part of your body. And most of us, let's face it, nobody thinks about their gut until they're nauseous or they're suddenly constipated for a week, or they're dealing with bouts of diarrhea, or you know, like all this stuff nobody wants to talk about. And the rest of the time, we fully ignore it.

Leslie Field (19:56.771)

Hahaha

Leslie Field (20:06.944)

Mm.

Leslie Field (20:10.213)

Mm-hmm.

Leslie Field (20:14.393)

Yeah.

Leslie Field (20:22.253)

Yep. Correct.

Kristina Evans (20:24.382)

Right? We don't talk about it. Like, so why would I be excited about it? Because I have seen healing occur. Like if you can get the gut working correctly, then you will heal. You will be able to...

Leslie Field (20:33.292)

Mmm.

Leslie Field (20:38.486)

Mmm.

Kristina Evans (20:43.778)

dare I say, go into remission from a lot of conditions. You will calm them down. The distance between flares will extend and the severity of flares will decrease. That's the beauty of working in the gut. So.

Leslie Field (20:49.038)

What?

Yes.

Leslie Field (20:58.837)

Mmm.

Kristina Evans (21:02.878)

Anatomy wise, right? Digestion, we talked about starts in, you see the food, you smell the food, our mouth starts to water because we get super excited about what we're eating, right? And then we start to chew and carbohydrates start to break down and then...

we swallow and that food goes into our, down the esophagus into the stomach, where we have these incredible powerful muscles that go in, you know, like they run 90 degrees across each other and they turn and they pump. And what is always fascinating to me, like these are like major muscle groups. I actually heard digestion described as it's the most violent thing that occurs in your body every single time.

you eat. Like it's like every single day this violent muscle contraction is occurring and we have no idea. Like we have no connection to it. It's just this automatic thing that's occurring magically. Right? So you've got this churning. Once it's churned and it's mixed with some acids and additional enzymes then it goes down into the

Leslie Field (21:58.238)

Wow.

Leslie Field (22:02.518)

Yeah.

Leslie Field (22:06.049)

Yeah.

Kristina Evans (22:19.158)

the gut, which is basically the small intestine, where most of your digestion occurs. From there, you have some further digestion and some sort of absorption of the nutrients takes place. And then whatever is left passes into the colon where you have some additional microbiome activity with it. The stool is created and then out to the other end, right?

Leslie Field (22:32.936)

Mm-hmm.

Kristina Evans (22:48.478)

That's the digestion. The part that gets most exciting for me is that center gut. It's the small intestine because that's where the magic is. That's where the greatest part of your microbiome.

Leslie Field (22:56.724)

Mmm.

Leslie Field (23:00.165)

Mmm.

Kristina Evans (23:08.022)

is located. We have commensal bacteria and we have opportunistic bacteria that's hanging around in there. Our commensal bacteria is like the bacteria that's in symbiotic relationship with us. It's the one that takes care of us. It helps us digest food that we would otherwise not be able to digest. It works with our immune system and in so cool it actually trains some of our immune cells to do the job that they do.

Leslie Field (23:34.725)

Mmm.

Kristina Evans (23:37.734)

So you can imagine how important these keystone bacterias are, right? If you get an imbalance in those keystone bacteria, those opportunistic bacteria over here, I like to...

Leslie Field (23:49.669)

Mm-hmm.

Kristina Evans (23:51.346)

somebody's gonna be offended by this, but I'm gonna say it anyway. They're like the fraternity brothers when the house mom has gone on vacation. And they're like, let's party. Let's invite 600 of our closest friends and bring out the kegs. And it's those opportunistic bacteria that are actually tied to things like biofilms and digestive discomfort and autoimmune conditions down the pipeline.

Leslie Field (23:53.441)

Hahaha

Leslie Field (24:04.046)

Uh-huh.

Kristina Evans (24:21.118)

you don't want those running free. And so you're thinking about that microbiome and it's so vital to our health. And so that's one part of our conversation is how to keep that microbiome healthy. And then the anatomy of the gut is also an incredibly beautiful thing because you have the lumen, which is the open part.

Leslie Field (24:23.397)

Hmm. Yeah.

Kristina Evans (24:46.338)

That's where the food is being digested. And then you have the mucosal lining, which is microscopic, but is supposed to be plush and healthy, and it's actually kind of your jail warden. It's where observations, communications are occurring across the superhighway.

I'll put it that way. And then behind the mucosal lining, you have the gut wall, which is all the epithelial cells. It's those long finger-like waving cells and the tight gap junctions. So those tight gap junctions are supposed to be nice and tight. And those little epithelial cells are looking through the mucosal lining and they're like, oh, look, let me pull this nutrient. Let me pull this vitamin. Let me pull this. And so they're absorbing the nutrients from the food that we're eating and putting it

Leslie Field (25:23.484)

Mm-hmm.

Leslie Field (25:26.979)

Mm-hmm.

Kristina Evans (25:41.516)

the bloodstream, then it goes to the liver, the liver does its thing with it, and then sends it out to all the cells that are in our body. So you can see where breakdowns can start to occur right away, right? They can start with up here, our mouth, because we don't chew our food well. It can break down at the stomach level because we don't have enough acid in our stomachs. Welcome.

Leslie Field (26:00.737)

Mmm.

Kristina Evans (26:08.114)

acid reflux GERD. It can go down into the gut where we have imbalance in microbiome, we have a breakdown in the mucosal lining, we have a degradation of the gut wall so those epithelial cells are damaged and the tight gap junctions open and suddenly we have leaky gut.

Leslie Field (26:09.932)

Mm-hmm.

Leslie Field (26:29.858)

Mm-hmm.

Kristina Evans (26:31.266)

And so things in from the food that are otherwise too large, like protein, not fully broken down protein, but full molecules of protein make it into our bloodstream. And our white blood cells, our immune cells goes, that's not supposed to be there. And so the immune system is turned on, cleaning up those cells. And so you can rapidly move to, okay, well, what's causing that? It's your food.

Leslie Field (26:42.984)

Mm.

Kristina Evans (26:59.198)

the food that you're eating all the time is not being broken down properly. The proteins and other things are getting into your bloodstream. Your immune system is chronically on. Here we are at inflammation, right? And so you just continue to back up. So I think I explained the gut. There's more, we didn't talk about the into the toilet part, but I assume that we all kind of know where it goes. So.

Leslie Field (27:14.372)

Mm-mm.

Leslie Field (27:26.501)

That's, I mean, that's the part most of us probably understand the most, right? I'd say, and not even understand, maybe, maybe not. Well, not understand, I should say maybe notice, maybe, and maybe even not notice. That might be the way to say it. I think the thing that really got me was a reminder that, you know, so many of us just deal with sort of...

Kristina Evans (27:33.834)

Maybe.

Kristina Evans (27:40.202)

Right, perhaps we're most familiar with.

Leslie Field (27:55.713)

no, the gut, the digestion. I was one who just dealt with bad digestion and just was like, oh, this must be normal, right? I never really thought about it. Like, oh, that's not normal because over time, I don't know, we just live life. Things just happen, right? And then after a while you just accept it as normal. Oh, it's totally normal for me to have a loose stool all the time where after every time I...

Kristina Evans (28:05.982)

Yeah.

Kristina Evans (28:15.534)

We do.

Leslie Field (28:22.077)

I eat out or just generally all the time. It wasn't until I started getting into this work and looking at it a little bit more closely and learning the knowledge that Christina's been sharing. But I was like, oh, maybe that's a sign that something's like kind of off. And not so as I say, we were laughing. That's the part we're most familiar with. But it's also the part that we just kind of like, oh, no, I guess that's normal over time, right?

Kristina Evans (28:41.975)

Right.

Kristina Evans (28:45.713)

I guess that's the way it works for me. I've been constipated my whole life. You know? Yeah.

Leslie Field (28:48.697)

Yeah.

Leslie Field (28:52.14)

Right?

Leslie Field (28:56.342)

So, okay, so then I appreciate you explaining the science of it, because you know you hear the words like leaky gut and I'm kind of like, oh my gut and whatever, but like what do I do? Now what do I do? Okay, so things are, you know, I come and I work with you. Like tell me the next, where do we go? What's next, Christina?

Kristina Evans (28:56.668)

Yeah.

Kristina Evans (29:20.73)

So when you come to work with me, the first thing I'm going to do is just really do an evaluation of what you're eating and how you're eating. Do you skip meals all the time? Are you a grazer throughout the day? Realistically, how many veggies are you eating in a day? What does your protein look like? Are you a drive-through bunny?

Leslie Field (29:47.703)

Mm-hmm.

Kristina Evans (29:50.864)

you know, that's where you get all your food. Are you a skip breakfast kind of person? We're going to just start to dig into, you know, like, what does eating look like for you? And then my next question is going to be, okay, let's evaluate whether you're actually eating the rainbow.

Leslie Field (30:12.741)

Hmm.

Kristina Evans (30:13.938)

It's actually a nice place to start. And especially with, I love it when I get to work with moms that have little kids, because you know, as mom is changing diets, it can be, shall we say, disruptive to the household. Because suddenly, you know, some of those things that have otherwise been in the house are going away. And so like, how do you bring your family along? And so eating the rainbow is an easy one to do. So I tell everybody, okay.

Leslie Field (30:25.497)

Hahaha

Kristina Evans (30:43.35)

When you're working with me, especially in the beginning, you're gonna be keeping a food journal and a symptom journal. And so what I'm looking for is you not to tell me I had a half a teaspoon of this and like a quarter teaspoon of that. No, just list me your ingredients and kind of tell me generally what you're eating at each meal and then give me symptoms. How are you sleeping? Any digestive discomfort, anxiety. Oh, you have anxiety. Okay, let's talk about that. So like we're...

Leslie Field (30:47.042)

Mm-hmm.

Kristina Evans (31:10.838)

just listing all those things and I'd let you do that for a week or two and then we come back and evaluate. And what I have you do at the end of that first journaling set is I have you get out some colored pencils and color.

the food. So if you had an apple, okay color it red. If you had some mushrooms, we'll color that you know actually strangely enough white. But like so we'll color you know orange for carrots yellow for the yellow bell pepper. And so you're going to visually be able to see am I eating the rainbow. And so we kind of start to dig in there because the first foundational piece of keeping a healthy microbiome is to eat the greatest variety of food that you can.

Leslie Field (31:54.341)

Hmm.

Kristina Evans (31:54.934)

that causes the least amount of discomfort. So we're always trying to get you to be able to eat more. Now in the very beginning, it's likely that we're gonna have to tighten way up and you're gonna be eating a more, I hate the word restricted, we're gonna have gotten rid of the foods that cause the most inflammation for the most people. We can make some assumptions.

Leslie Field (31:57.712)

Mmm.

Leslie Field (32:15.214)

Hmm.

Leslie Field (32:21.835)

Mm-hmm.

Kristina Evans (32:22.282)

And so we're gonna have gotten rid of those and we're just gonna be pulling back to, you know, the term everybody likes to use is clean eating. Clean eating means a whole lot, things different for, you know, different people, but we're getting good, healthy proteins, we're eating lots of veggies, we're eating some fruit, and we're just basically giving our body a break from anything that could be causing that inflammation.

Leslie Field (32:36.217)

Yeah, yeah.

Leslie Field (32:47.468)

Mm-hmm.

Leslie Field (32:51.349)

Maybe I should, maybe I should step in for a moment and talk about me and this part and this part. So after this lovely full of transparency, let's get real here because she's doing the beautiful nutritionist speak and then we're going to go on this new, this journey, right? And like, yeah, you are. So let's get real about the journey for a second.

Kristina Evans (32:51.542)

So we start there.

Kristina Evans (32:55.886)

Let's do it.

Kristina Evans (33:02.314)

Mm-hmm. Full transparency.

Leslie Field (33:16.781)

So remember, after first conversation, Christina had convinced me with that one line that on the other side of this is a part of me or an experience or just something I can't even imagine right now. Okay, that was, she got me, she hooked me on that one, right? So then I start, right? And I'm like, I'm gonna be honest with everybody. The first week was so hard for me. Now, that might not be someone else's journey.

but let me tell you the amount of kicking and screaming and pouting and just kind of unhappiness. I thought it was gonna come later. That's what was interesting to me. I thought it was gonna be like by week whatever, I was gonna be like, I can't do this anymore. It was actually the first week was the biggest struggle. I was not expecting that. I thought first week is like, you're starting something new, you're on a high, right? You're like, I can do this.

Kristina Evans (33:59.052)

Yeah.

Kristina Evans (34:07.142)

Okay.

Leslie Field (34:09.281)

That was the exact opposite for me. The first week was, I'm miserable, I'm very unhappy, I don't like this, why am I doing this? But I did it, and I kept going.

Kristina Evans (34:11.719)

Yeah.

Kristina Evans (34:19.018)

Right. You did. You did. And I would love to say that your experience is different than everybody else's. And fortunately, it's not.

that first week is hard for everybody. Full transparency, this is what I do. And occasionally I will do a reset. I feel like, it's been a while. I kind of need to just reset, give my body a break. And a few years ago, I was doing something similar to what we were doing together, Leslie.

Leslie Field (34:31.543)

Oh gosh.

Mm.

Kristina Evans (35:00.066)

There was this one night, it was about four or five days into this adventure, and my kids were, I have two daughters and they're at home and there's my husband, I love my husband, he's an amazing man, right? And I'm standing there and I'm making dinner and I'm like, I have a few choices to make. I'm going to open the pantry.

Leslie Field (35:07.813)

Mm-hmm.

Kristina Evans (35:25.982)

and eat absolutely every damn thing in there that is not on my cleanse. I'm gonna go to the cabinet and I'm gonna drink all the wine, which is most certainly not on my cleanse, or I'm gonna kill my husband.

Leslie Field (35:40.028)

Hahaha

Kristina Evans (35:42.154)

I turned to them and I was like, "'Dinner is finished. I'm going to bed now.'" And they looked at me and they were like, "'What are you doing?' And I'm like, "'I am going to bed now. Good night.'" It was seven o'clock at night. I literally put myself to bed because those were my options. I was gonna eat all the stuff in the pantry. I was gonna drink all the wine or my husband was going to die. And I was like, these are not good options, folks. I cannot allow myself to do that. Like, adults.

Leslie Field (35:58.094)

Yes.

Leslie Field (36:08.526)

No.

Kristina Evans (36:12.13)

Go to bed. Ha ha ha.

Leslie Field (36:14.378)

That was a very, very good call. I will say, we're not really selling this on people, but we're getting there, we're there. I had a moment where I couldn't stop thinking of butter. It was like butter, butter on toast, butter here. And I was like, it was like my mind. I was like, holy moly, I had no idea. But we got through it people and that's what matters.

Kristina Evans (36:37.142)

We did, we did. And there is something really beautiful on the other side. And what it is, you know, is yeah, you're gonna, you're going to do an elimination diet if you come to me. You are, because we have to get that sediment from that beautiful mountain pool. We have to get it to calm down.

Leslie Field (36:52.536)

Mm-hmm.

Kristina Evans (37:03.158)

We have to get it to settle. The only way to do that is with this kind of elimination diet. And then we get to the next phase, because once you made it through the 30ish days, you came back to me and you were like, I cannot believe how good I feel. I do not understand.

Leslie Field (37:28.437)

Yes.

Kristina Evans (37:30.878)

What kind of crazy magic is this? Right? Like it was the Leslie from the first appointment to the Leslie at like week four was like, OK, what are we doing next? Like because I'm feeling so much better now.

Leslie Field (37:36.957)

Right now.

Leslie Field (37:43.107)

I know.

Leslie Field (37:47.061)

It was kind of wild. Okay, so a few things that definitely happened for me. I know my moods are better, so I do struggle with my mood. Sometimes I can really go into low mood. I noticed that even if I kind of went down, I didn't sort of like bottom out and just like stay there for a while. I could kind of go down and sort of shift out a little bit faster than in the past. I noticed that I had a faster recovery after I'd work out.

Kristina Evans (38:05.878)

Yeah.

Leslie Field (38:16.693)

I noticed that obviously I had more energy all around, which is my biggest sort of challenge that I faced personally. So a lot more energy, which was a huge bonus. The one that was the weirdest one, and I still can't quite understand it. And it's probably because I'm still in this process. We're out of the elimination phase. We're still in the gluten and dairy free phase. And maybe we might not get to this in this conversation. Maybe it's future conversation. I'm still learning now about the sort of like trusting my body again.

and believing that I can eat things and be okay. So I'm kind of in the middle, but what I will say is another big one that was not what I expected is I don't crave as much. Like I just don't crave even on a big workout day. You know, I, in the past it was every day, 3.30, four o'clock, I'm like, feed me. Like I was like dinner, it didn't matter. I was like, God, like, okay. And then you'd have like a mini dinner before dinner, right? So.

Kristina Evans (39:03.016)

Mm-hmm.

Leslie Field (39:14.765)

blood sugar levels seemed to be so much better. I was not craving and all the meals were just fueling me better. So I wasn't having to pick and eat and do that. But the last one, this is the weirdest, weirdest one. Craving is completely different. I would see things and maybe they weren't, for instance, we had to go to England unexpectedly and Christina and I worked through it and Ben's eating all the things, my husband, he's eating all the like.

Kristina Evans (39:22.102)

Yeah.

Leslie Field (39:41.053)

roasted potatoes and all the butter and these work sure puddings that are very carby and it was interesting because I was like well I'm not gonna order the full plate but we have talked about this I'll just have like a bite it was the weirdest thing I'd have a bite and go that's not like it's not that great like it's not that it's not as amazing as I thought so there's something about it sort of like reset my taste buds

Kristina Evans (40:04.114)

Yeah.

Leslie Field (40:05.729)

What is that? Like, what?

Kristina Evans (40:10.806)

Well, so back to things being muddied, I actually feel like it's, you know, we lose that connection, that mind-body connection, because when symptoms start to come up, and can I just speak to women for a minute? We are incredibly good, like underline, exclamation point, exclamation point, exclamation point, at masking how we feel,

Leslie Field (40:38.762)

Oh yeah.

Kristina Evans (40:41.39)

our generalized roles of taking care of things, right? Like we're taking care of our work, we're taking care of our families, we're taking care of our husbands, we're taking care of our parents, we're taking, like we're caregivers. And so we don't have time to pay attention.

to the very subtle messages that our body's sending us. And the longer that we ignore those subtleties, the more likely we are to end up down the path with major symptoms that are like, okay, now you're done. Because your body has to get your attention, right? So you've disconnected

Leslie Field (41:26.965)

Mm-hmm.

Kristina Evans (41:31.046)

the mind and the body. And so part of our work, which is also so exciting, is reconnecting. And so of course your body is going to tell you what it needs. Right? It's going to tell you what it needs. And so

Leslie Field (41:44.718)

Yeah.

Kristina Evans (41:47.43)

Yeah, you like for those of us who generally eat healthy and then let's say we, you know, we're at somebody else's house who doesn't eat the same way. And then by the time we get home, we were like, if I don't get a salad on my plate in like the next two minutes, there's going to be hell to pay. Like I need a salad like right now. You know, and it's I mean, it's kind of ridiculous, but your body does reset and there is a relearning of trust.

Leslie Field (42:04.366)

Yeah.

Kristina Evans (42:16.974)

There's a relearning of trust that has to begin. And I think you and I are far enough into the process that we've talked a little bit about how to really talk to our bodies, right? And make that connection again. But the other thing that I think I would also tap into because this is such...

Leslie Field (42:33.058)

Yeah.

Kristina Evans (42:43.758)

Um, this is such a big conversation right now is mental health, right? And you said you have a tendency to, to go low, right? And there's, there's some real physiology happening behind that. You know, like that first week, you're actually fighting against this lower part of your brain, which is this primitive part of your brain that is like,

Leslie Field (42:48.431)

Mmm.

Kristina Evans (43:10.894)

Girl, I've kept you alive this long, why are we changing? Don't change, don't change, don't change, don't change. Butter, butter, right? Butter has been fine, just do the thing. So you have, you actually have to break through your own wiring and there is a part of your brain that's like, these things have kept you alive so far, so there's no need to change them. So you have that first breakthrough. But then going even deeper than that.

Leslie Field (43:26.425)

Yeah.

Leslie Field (43:32.706)

Yeah.

Kristina Evans (43:37.862)

is this incredible thing called the vagus nerve. And this is probably a whole nother podcast, but just to tap and then walk away, is the vagus nerve looks like a tree. In our body, it's an upside down tree, right? So it attaches to the base of our brain, runs down our spinal cord, and then branches out to every part.

of our digestion. Like it's connected everywhere and it's monitoring what's happening in our digestive area, in our abdomen, in our gut, like in that central location. It's so powerful. Our digestion is such a powerful system that we now call it our second brain.

Leslie Field (44:31.039)

Mm-hmm.

Kristina Evans (44:31.542)

because it runs autonomously, right? It doesn't need our big brain that sits up on top of our shoulders. It does not need it to tell it what to do. It's going to do what it needs to do all on its own. And the messaging that occurs is that for every one message that our big brain sends to our gut, our gut has sent nine back.

Leslie Field (44:57.689)

Mm-hmm.

Kristina Evans (44:58.366)

So now imagine if you have disruption in this system and your microbiome is screaming, we have an issue, there's a problem, we're dealing with leaky gut down here. And the epithelial cells are saying, we're getting damaged, we're under attack, how can somebody help us, send aid. You've got all of these things that are like shooting messages constant inundating this brain up here. So.

It is very common, very common. We're seeing great science, great research being done that when you have digestive issues, digestive issues will always be connected to anxiety and depression. So if you have somebody who shows up with anxiety and depression, how's your gut? How's your digestion?

Leslie Field (45:43.661)

Hmm.

Kristina Evans (45:51.99)

because they're dramatically connected. And that sense of gut, that sixth sense, if you will, of, oh, I have this gut feeling, I should just do this, you best be listening to it because it's actually the seat of your emotions. It's actually there to keep you safe. And it's a real thing being driven, some would say, by that microbiome. So.

Leslie Field (46:18.549)

Mmm.

Kristina Evans (46:19.21)

It's exciting. It's such, do you see me? Like, I like, I can't even stand it, Leslie. Like, tell me to shut up. Ask me a question.

Leslie Field (46:25.086)

I feel like if you could see her, she's like, you could tell she's like containing her giddiness, like it comes out sometimes. Like she is one passionate woman when it comes to this topic. And this is actually something I'm very curious about because the embodied movement that I teach is all about reconnecting to, from the most subtle to the most loud sort of sensations and feelings of the body. So that's so interesting. This is all the things that I learned in my work.

but you're taking it from the perspective of nutrition and the gut and I'm also taking it from same sort of, same systems of connecting into that internally and sort of understanding it better. So it's so, I'm so glad you talked about the vagus nerve and the second brain and how powerful it is. And I think what you said is just so important that oftentimes in our lives, we have so much to do, right? We have, we kind of, we don't have to, we tend to just override, right?

the symptoms, the noise, the subtleties. And absolutely, it's not until it's really, really loud, it's pumping in as like chronic migraines or like the doctor's like, hey, there's this thing going on. And it's scary and it's also a shame when it gets to that. But that's why we have these conversations here on Sick and Seeking. And that's why I do embodied movement. That's why I bring nutritionists here, not to guilt you or shame you, just to give you more information.

Kristina Evans (47:22.838)

Yes.

Leslie Field (47:52.417)

to just sort of, how can you tend to your body more in a helpful and loving way? Because if you're gonna go to the extreme, like beat yourself up with a branch about what you're eating every day, that's not gonna work either. So trust me, I've done that. And so I just appreciate you sharing all this knowledge. Yeah, I should say, that's why I had so much resistance. I've done the restriction, I've done the, oh, I can't read thing because I wanna not,

Kristina Evans (48:04.546)

Right. Aww. Yeah.

Leslie Field (48:20.581)

crazy reasons when I'm in my 20s, but to actually know like deep down inside, down to the cellular level, to hear how it's connected to my moods, like how, you know, this system, if I can get it feeling better, then maybe my system can give a little bit more attention to my kidneys that are really struggling and to my thyroid that's really struggling, you know, so that all together they can just be like, oh yeah, we got, we got the things we need to do what we want to do to heal this body.

Kristina Evans (48:48.806)

Right. Yeah, I totally agree. I totally agree. And I maybe I think you can you can guide us wherever you'd like to go. But maybe something that we can kind of segue into is the person who says, well, I have these symptoms, you know, I'm not sleeping at night, I have migraines. And

Let's just stop there. I'm not sleeping and I have migraines. I don't have digestive problems. What do you do? How do you address that? Because maybe they're coming to me because they've been told that food can impact migraines. Avoid sulfates and sulfites. And maybe that's why they're coming. They don't even understand, what are sulfates and sulfites and where would I find them? So maybe that's why. But...

Leslie Field (49:16.725)

Yep.

Kristina Evans (49:41.526)

The issue and what gets really tricky with gut health is that it can manifest in so many different ways because it's impacting so many different systems, right? So you can have anxiety and depression and it be digestive. You can have asthma. So you can have asthma.

allergies, environmental allergies, food allergies, sinus issues, sinus congestion. Maybe you're a person who gets sick all the time. You have, you know, just like one virus after another, you just get caught. Somebody comes near you and they sneeze, you know you're sick three days later, right? You know those people. Maybe, again, maybe you're not sleeping at night. Maybe you have eczema.

Maybe you have that patchy skin, right? Maybe you have joint pain. Maybe you have no energy. So when you start to look at the cloud of symptoms, some people just have no, like no knowledge.

Because we don't talk about it, right? This is why I'm so excited to be here. But you get this cloud of symptoms that are all seemingly unrelated. Why would I care about my gut? Right? My blood pressure's going up. Why do I care about my gut? Like, you know, I was diagnosed with diabetes. That's not a gut issue, right? 100% it is.

Leslie Field (51:14.216)

Mm-hmm.

Leslie Field (51:21.721)

Mm.

Kristina Evans (51:24.81)

your body's not handling the glucose levels correctly, right? So, so many of our Western diseases, if you will, and autoimmune conditions and those symptoms that we've kind of jokingly talked about here and there that we're just like, yeah, I guess this is my life now. I just don't do that well. We just accept it, but.

Leslie Field (51:45.433)

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Kristina Evans (51:52.802)

The gut will make all the difference all of the time.

So, you know, everybody's, everybody's personal journey is different. And that's the other tricky thing about the gut is that, you know, somebody who's really sick, they want to get better really fast.

Leslie Field (52:12.037)

Mmm.

Kristina Evans (52:14.85)

And it doesn't work that way. You know, I always gently, and this is something that I make sure that we've like built a little bit of trust together, right? But with somebody who's really struggling in that long-term health condition, long-term health conditions take long-term healing.

Leslie Field (52:16.233)

Oh.

Kristina Evans (52:37.874)

It's a healing journey. It's not like taking a medication and that particular symptom going away. It's a different experience.

Leslie Field (52:45.241)

Yeah.

Kristina Evans (52:49.406)

You do get tired, sure, in the process, but that's where you have somebody like myself or somebody like yourself with the embodied movement. You have somebody who can come along and put their hand on your back and be like, no, I'm here, I'm walking with you. Oh, you're having a tough day, let's talk it through. Let me help you get back up again and get going. And something else you said that's popped back up into my mind is how difficult it is in the first week.

The learning curve can be really intense when you start changing foods, right? And what I would say is there's grace in that as well. Like you don't have to know it all in the beginning. It's a journey. And so, you know, I like to believe in that 80-20 rule, 80% of the time we're doing all the things that we know to do to support our health. And 20% of the time.

Leslie Field (53:23.214)

Yeah.

Leslie Field (53:32.459)

Mm-hmm.

Kristina Evans (53:43.158)

We're celebrating life and our relationships and our community, and we're getting to do more of the fun things. But if you can hit that, we're not looking for perfection ever. But if you can hit the 80-20, you're going to start seeing results.

Leslie Field (53:59.431)

Mm-hmm. I didn't also say there was one more result, because I don't want people to necessarily be so focused on this, however, maybe that is a goal of someone. But I did lose weight. I still am. There's something about going on in my system that it's just like, oh, we're good. We're doing better now. We can do that. We can release fat off the body now.

Kristina Evans (54:14.186)

Yeah.

Kristina Evans (54:23.946)

Yeah, inflammation weight is what we call it. Yeah, and it's inflammation weight, otherwise known as loss resistant weight. Right? You didn't come to me to lose weight. That was not your number one thing. In fact, I don't recall that being on the list of. Right? And that's part of it though is like.

Leslie Field (54:25.953)

Yes.

Leslie Field (54:35.576)

Mmm. Yeah.

Leslie Field (54:45.769)

No, that was just a bonus at this point, you know? Yeah.

Kristina Evans (54:53.298)

If your body is super inflamed, it's trying to hold on to absolutely everything. It's the child who has all the toys and feels threatened by the other kids at preschool, like, no, these are mine, I must protect them. That's your body. It's your body's way of trying to protect itself. And especially if...

Leslie Field (55:16.494)

Yeah.

Kristina Evans (55:22.366)

if you're a person who's eating kind of that American standard diet, um, that diet will often lead to great inflammation. Um, and that particular way of eating, especially if you eat out a lot, um, is actually.

Leslie Field (55:35.283)

Mm.

Leslie Field (55:42.693)

Mm-hmm.

Kristina Evans (55:46.434)

super high in sugars and salts and the nutrition has been so greatly reduced that, you know, for the first time in history, we have obesity and then the same obese person will show up as nutritionally deficient, like nutritionally starving. And that's a really scary thing. It's a really scary thing to me.

Leslie Field (56:09.401)

Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

Kristina Evans (56:14.954)

to think that you could be starving and be carrying a hundred extra pounds. Right. Like you just, how do you make that connection in your brain? But, um, yeah, weight loss is, is the side, one of the side bonuses. How about that?

Leslie Field (56:32.226)

Yeah, yeah,

Leslie Field (57:00.117)

I eat vegetables, I've learned to really love them and really appreciate them. And so I'm thinking, oh, I'm gonna come in with like, not saying, I don't really wanna like rate my gut, but I thought I'd be like in a decent place. And in some areas I was better, in some areas there was some work to do. But the one that really got me was when we looked at the amount of, ooh, different, all the, I don't know, the levels inside my gut, the good bacteria, that's what it was. And that was the one that really got me.

Kristina Evans (57:27.406)

Okay.

Leslie Field (57:30.273)

So you're on the lower level. And I was like, holy moly. Here I am really, really trying, or I thought I was, but anyway, I just thought that blew my mind. Cause here I'm like, I'm a healthy person. Like I eat my greens, right? I put like spinach in my smoothie and my body's like, you're cute, but we still don't have a good bacteria. That one got me.

Kristina Evans (57:42.366)

Yeah.

Kristina Evans (57:54.41)

Yeah, you know, good bacteria is such an interesting thing. And we can actually, here's the crazy part, that good bacteria, we can be born, we can be an infant, and the way we are birthed impacts that microbiome.

So the difference between a vaginal birth and a C-section birth is night and day. And just to give you a picture, vaginal birth is that as the baby moves through the vaginal opening to be birthed, that baby is washed in the mom's microbiome. So that.

the baby actually begins life with microbiome. Otherwise, there's no microbiome in the womb, right? So the baby's completely insulated, no little bacteria's running around. So that baby gets washed with the mom's microbiome and begins life. You take a C-section baby, what's the first bacteria that they're gonna come in contact with? Whatever's in that operating room.

Leslie Field (59:10.68)

Yeah.

Kristina Evans (59:12.426)

Right? So that's a question that I ask people who come to me. Were you vaginally birthed? Were you C-section birth? Then you go on another step. Were you breastfed? Because breastfeeding again, continues to that transfer of the mother's immune system, the mother's microbiome to the baby, right? Babies who are C-section and then formula, asthma, allergies,

Leslie Field (59:23.677)

Mm.

Kristina Evans (59:41.394)

like food sensitivities all day long, autism, OCD, all of behavior issues, all of it. You can point right back. And it's not to say that you can't recover from it. 100% you can. I've seen kids diagnosed with autism. You fix that gut. You keep them on it. Never know. Never know. Never know that they were had any issues with

Leslie Field (59:43.981)

Mmm.

Leslie Field (01:00:08.809)

Yeah.

Kristina Evans (01:00:10.782)

you know, that they were diagnosed with autism. Like you would never know because you're like, the brain is still neurodivergent, right? They think differently, but all of the extras, they calm down because you've healed the gut. So I don't know where I was going with this, but we've like, the whole process of, oh, I know where I was going. So back to the good bacteria, having a pet makes a difference.

Leslie Field (01:00:37.337)

Mm.

Kristina Evans (01:00:39.99)

Right? Were you a kid that plays in the dirt? Are you a gardener? Do you grow your own herbs? All of those things impact positively your microbiome.

Leslie Field (01:00:52.581)

Hmm.

Kristina Evans (01:00:54.718)

So it's not uncommon for somebody to show up with a depleted microbiome if they've had any of those kind of history moments, but also if you were a child that had tons of antibiotics, or you're an adult that has had to have tons of antibiotics, right? Antibiotics, they go in to kill a particular thing, but then they wipe out the microbiome. You know, did you have, were you someone who was susceptible to food poisoning?

Leslie Field (01:01:05.014)

Yeah.

Leslie Field (01:01:11.214)

Yeah.

Leslie Field (01:01:24.428)

Mm-hmm.

Kristina Evans (01:01:24.818)

Um, so, you know, like, did you get food poisoning? Have you had it once or twice? Destroy your microbiome. It's got to be rebuilt. Um, and so you get into like, what, how do we build the microbiome? Right. And, and so like the dogs, the cats, the play in the dirt, all good for adults too. Um, and then all of your probiotic foods, you know, those, those foods that are fermented naturally.

Leslie Field (01:01:37.363)

Mm-hmm.

Kristina Evans (01:01:54.298)

are great for supporting the microbiome and tons and tons of veggies for the fiber because the insoluble fiber feeds the microbiome, so And sometimes then you do some supplementation too depending on what's going on But yeah, it's always a surprise, you know, I'd like I'd like to believe that I know what's going on in my gut This is what I do, but I'm like it might be time that I check that out just to make sure

Leslie Field (01:02:11.445)

Always.

Leslie Field (01:02:18.273)

Yeah, it's such an interesting thing when you can see the numbers and really see it in front of you. And that's why I like to work with someone like Christina, just to have it, you know, because I'm so due to do to do we go through life and you feel like, well, I don't really know. So if you can do it, working with someone like Christina, it just really just gives you the visuals gives you a point of reference. And here I am, I think of you all the time, Christina, I think about

how many veggies am I eating in a day, how many different types of veggies. The last final piece that I should say is I've never cooked so much in my life. So that for me has been a good shift. I've always cooked, but this has been a really big motivator to cook. And like anything you get faster, it gets easier. You get better at it, but you have to take the time and effort to do it. And I even had a friend comment, we were at a farmer's market. I was like, oh, I'm gonna do all the, she goes, you sound like you're cooking a lot. I'm like, you have no idea.

Kristina Evans (01:03:07.282)

Yeah, for sure. Right?

Leslie Field (01:03:17.689)

So that was also a whole learning part of the curve too, but it's made me and my husband like just feel better and all around we're just, we're grateful for the shift. Let's keep it up longterm as we can. Ha ha ha.

Kristina Evans (01:03:22.052)

Yeah.

Kristina Evans (01:03:28.404)

Yeah.

Kristina Evans (01:03:32.818)

Yeah, right. Yeah, and being a chef, one of the things that I really enjoy getting to do with my private practice clients is that, somebody's like, I have no idea how to cook. I've never done it before. I love going grocery shopping with them. I love taking them to the store and being like, okay, this is how we shop for the foods that are gonna be most nourishing to you. Let's go to the farmer's market. Let's take a look at that. And then,

I give some private cooking classes or private cooking lessons to my private clients as part of it because everybody can get a little faster and learn some hacks that make the whole process a lot easier. So yeah, working with me, that's the kind of thing that you get to do, which is so fun.

Leslie Field (01:04:04.444)

Mmm.

Leslie Field (01:04:22.209)

And she has some great little tips and recipes. I've created my own nut milk and Christine has. Every time Christine has given me like a little food like a suggestion or tidbit, I go away and I do it and I'm like, she's a genius. I was like, I could tell she's a chef. Like make your own nut milk people. It doesn't last long, but by golly, it's so much better than what you buy in the store. But anyway, we could go down that road a whole nother time. And I think.

It would be great to have you back another time in the future. There's so many more places you can go. Christina, how can people find you or connect with you?

Kristina Evans (01:04:58.25)

Yeah, so you can find me, I have a website, anissawellness.com, and it's anissa, because it's my two daughters, Anna and Alyssa combined, because I like to say I learned at the seat of my babies. So it's A-N-N-Y-S-S-A.com. So my website's there, and there's like a contact form if somebody wants to get in contact with me. Otherwise, I'm on Instagram.

Way more than Facebook. I don't know. Like just the season of my life. So if you want to find me, you look on Instagram. But I'm there. So like all through December, I was posting fun holiday recipes and things. So there's recipes, there's little talks, there's various things. But yeah, you can connect with me there as well at Inessa Wellness.

Leslie Field (01:05:31.917)

Hahaha

Leslie Field (01:05:50.313)

Wonderful and I'm gonna link all that in the show notes and if this is the woman that you've been looking for you should definitely Know this is if you've been looking for a nutritionist. She is probably the woman that you've been looking for. Let me tell you so I'm just grateful that we've met. We're still getting to work together and Just thank you for being here today

Kristina Evans (01:06:13.538)

Thank you so much for having me. This topic is amazing and it's been fun. It's been such a fun journey to see you and grow in your ideas about what food should look like. But it's just, I always counted a blessing when I see somebody start just to tear down the barriers and they're like, no, this is possible and I can.

Leslie Field (01:06:27.365)

I'm gonna go to bed.

Kristina Evans (01:06:41.082)

I can live a healthy, in a way that supports my health, in a way that allows me to do the things that I wanna do. And when I see that, it just makes everything that I do a hundred times more worth it. So thank you for having me and letting me be part of your journey. Ha ha ha.

Leslie Field (01:06:55.442)

Hmm

Leslie Field (01:07:00.277)

Oh, thank you, thank you so much. Okay, well, until next time. Bye.

Kristina Evans (01:07:06.062)

See you later.

Leslie Field (01:07:10.189)

There we go. I almost like pushed us out, but we just got one.