Dr. Anneke Vandenbroek But let's talk about what alcohol actually does to the gut microbiome, what it does to small intestinal lining integrity, leading to leaky gut and all sorts of unpleasantries that if we aren't navigating this in a proactive way can become problematic.

Yeah, and this is a topic I love talking about because it really does not get enough attention as it relates to the discussion around alcohol and the impacts of alcohol.

And one of the really well-known things that we know about alcohol is that it affects nutrient absorption.

And it will cause deficiencies in many of our nutrients, which is a big part of the book and a big part of my work around nutrition is that the very nutrients that we need to have energy and healthy mood and not have anxiety, for example, are the ones that alcohol depletes.

So we kind of get caught in this vicious cycle.

So we know pretty well that alcohol affects us.

nutrient absorption, but also digestion because it's very irritating to the stomach lining.

So those cravings can be for a variety of reasons, but more often than not are a sign that something is remiss in the gut microbiome.

It's

our body's physiology essentially saying, I need this thing because I'm not well.

I can't think, I can't move, I can't operate in the way that I need to because the blood sugar is low.

And alcohol, because it is typically paired with some type of carbohydrate or sugar, it's going to give us a little bit of a spike in glucose followed by a steep drop.

And so it creates this dysregulation in blood sugar that doesn't just happen when we drink, but can have a kind of longer term effect.

And so it's one of the areas I focus on a lot in terms of recommendations that protein is something that like, if you're listening, this is one of the big, big takeaways is that if you're struggling with alcohol cravings, especially in the afternoon, five o'clock, six o'clock, that after work hour, usually it is low blood sugar and it is hunger.

So by having something to eat, something high in protein at that time can really be the difference between overcoming the craving and taking the drink.

So tell us what happens when you drink alcohol and how can you start to make an impact on their gut health by taking it out?

So how is that even daily or semi-regular glass of wine or beer or cocktail? How is that actually influencing women's hormone health?

Yes, great question.

And I want to touch on what you were just mentioning in that alcohol has always been this kind of other than thing.

Even in the medical space today with addiction medicine, we look at it as this kind of like, oh, if you have a problem, you're gonna go over here and you're gonna deal with it over here.

And it doesn't integrate back into the rest of the medical system, which to me is fascinating because there's no other substance that's legal anyway, that we consume on a regular basis that has its own area of medicine dedicated to it.

And it is really something that because of how commonplace it is in our society and how integrated it is into our lifestyles, that it's become this thing that you either have a problem or you don't have a problem.

It's very black or white.

But biologically, what actually is going on here? What is the body asking for when we have kind of those urges coming up? And how can you use targeted nutrition to kind of turn off those cravings at its source?