Speaking and Communicating Podcast

This podcast focuses on improving your communication skills both professionally and personally

>> Rosemary Rutteki: Our microbes interact with the environment. That's why when we were isolated during the virus, that was not good for our microbiome because we were not exchanging microbes with the environment, with people, with the soil, with the air, and then being isolation also deprives your microbiome.

>> Robert Sandleila: Welcome back to the speaking and communicating podcast. I am your host, Robert Tangella. If you are looking to improve your communication skills, both professionally and personally, this is the podcast you should be tuning into. Communication and soft skills are crucial for your career growth and leadership development. We are currently looking for professionals or entrepreneurs who would be willing to discuss their communication challenges on this show. All the details of booking a spot with me are found on the show notes, and by the end of this episode, please log on to Apple and Spotify and leave us a rating and a review. Now let's get communicating.

>> Rosemary Rutteki: Uh.

>> Robert Sandleila: Now let's get communicating with Rosemary Rutteki all the way from Florida.

Rosemary is a gut health specialist and she talks about wealth

Hi, Rosemary. Rosemary is a gut health specialist, and she's here to talk to us about gut health being wealth. And before I go any further, please help me welcome her to the show. Hi, Rosemarie.

>> Rosemary Rutteki: Hi, Roberta. Thank you for having me. I'm so excited.

>> Robert Sandleila: I'm excited too. It's really great that you are here.

Rosemary Ruteckchi is a functional medicine pharmacist

Welcome. Please tell us a little bit about yourself first.

>> Rosemary Rutteki: Thank you again for having me. My name is doctor Rosemary Ruteckchi, and I am a functional medicine pharmacist. So before I started my functional medicine career, I work as a pharmacist in different areas, hospitals, pharmacies, also in insurance companies. And I was always looking for a way to make people better, healthy. That's what I study, pharmacy. I want to be a, uh, healthcare professional, someone that will, you know, people will come and they get better. But as I work on my career, I discovered that that was not the case. So I was actually keeping people kind of like with a band aid, not solving their issues, and they continue to be sick, right. I was not fixing their issues. And that really made me feel sad, kind of disappointed, uh, about the profession, because I really want to make a change in people's lives. So that, uh, got me into looking for things for my own health. I was also suffering from digestive issues. Hormonal imbalances, fatigue, hair loss usually start happening during perimenopause. And for me, started in my thirties. So I started having a lot of perineal pulse symptoms very early. And I'm like, I can't live like this. I'm too young. And then I did what everybody does, right? You go to your doctor. I went to my gynecologist, and the only thing that they can prescribe you is hormone contraception or telling you, well, it's your hormonal changes, kind of like, I have to live with that. And I'm like, I can't live like this. This doesn't make any sense. So researching and also in that path, I wanted to help my daughter also with some things that led me into functional medicine, and I was able to increase my energy, improve my digestive issues, balance my hormones, grow my hair, and I was like, well, I need to really learn how to do this and help people. So I remember my coach asking her, so where do you study this? I want to learn how to do functional medicine and to this be my career, because I want to make a difference in people's life. And then she pointed me to the Institute of Functional Medicine. That's where I did my education and my board certification, and that's where I am right now. Now I help people heal their digestive issues, improve their energy, balance their hormones, and overall get better health.

>> Robert Sandleila: We've always wondered, when you hear stories about those who move from pharmacy to natural remedies or functional health, and we've always wondered, do those doing the job? Yes, they got there with the right intentions, with the best intentions. But over time, when they realize, wait a minute, I'm not sure if this is really healing people. Do they also come to that realization or it's just a job?

>> Rosemary Rutteki: A lot of health professionals are waking up, right? And they are noticing that they're not helping, really, their clients. I even have medical doctors as my clients because they want to improve their health. And the other day, I had, uh, a pediatrician that she reached out to me because she want to learn to, she want to learn more about functional medicine, and she want to help their clients, too, because she said, like, what I have to offer right now, it's not helping them. So a lot of practitioners are waking, um, up. Some practitioners, they do what they're taught, and they don't look outside of the box. Um, the good thing about functional medicine is that evidence based medicine, everything that you do, that we do in functional medicine, at least in my program, my certification is evidence based. I also tell people to be very careful when they're looking for a functional medicine practitioner, because a lot of people might say that they do functional medicine and they do a one week program, and then they say that they're doing functional medicine. I did three years of education. I got board certified and I continued to develop my knowledge. So it's very important when someone is looking for a functional medicine doctor to look for people that are in knowledgeable and certified.

>> Robert Sandleila: Right. That's very important because then they'd be the ones to turn around and say, this functional medicine stuff doesn't work. They find someone who is not fully qualified in the field and then let's go back to gut health.

High cortisol affects your gut microbiome, it also affects your sex hormones

We've heard so much about the gut, we've heard so much about the vagus nerve and how the gut is now the second brain, as we say. Please take us through that.

>> Rosemary Rutteki: We have seen a lot of people with a lot of vagus nerve issues. Your vagus nerve innervates all your entering nervous system. That's your digestive system. All those channels like electricity that I call all that communication goes into your gut and the vagus nerve. In order to work properly, we have to be in a state of relaxation, on rest and relaxation. And, um, that's our parasympathetic nervous system. Unfortunately, so many things that are going on in the world and dealing with the virus that was going around, it was very stressful for a lot of people. So living in a lot of stress impact our vagus nerve because we are constantly in a state of sympathetic state, meaning high cortisol. We have a lion behind us. So we're running, running, running, running. And that excess increase in cortisol not only impacts your gut microbiome, it also affects your sex hormones, and it affects many other organs in your body. Like, you know, many people can have sugar spikes or disbalance in their insulin levels. That could be because of high cortisol. They might start losing hair, that's a sign of high cortisol. They might be starting to gain some abdominal fat, or all of a sudden they can't lose weight, and they're gaining a lot of weight. That's a sign of high cortisol. They get sick a lot. That's a sign of high cortisol, right. Stress is a big driver of disease these days, and it impacts our parasympathetic nervous system, because if we're stressed all the time and we don't know how to relax, our body will not be able to do the function. In order for us to do digestion, to digest and absorb the nutrients and, um, for our body to do what it's supposed to do after we eat, we need to be in a parasympathetic state. And a lot of us are so busy that we eat in front of the computer we eat. Watch.

>> Robert Sandleila: Multitasking.

>> Rosemary Rutteki: Yeah, we're multitasking. And when I learned the importance of really relaxing and almost even taking a couple of breaths before you start eating is very important to start the process of digesting your food. Okay. So one of the ways that you can improve your parasympathetic nervous system or your vagus nerve is, like, doing things like meditation, breathing. Cold showers is really good, too. Yoga, exercise, all those things that will kind of, like, help you calm and relax. It's super important to allow your body to do its job. So when you're relaxed, your body's like, okay, I can produce sex hormones, right? Because I don't have to produce cortisol. The mom of all our hormones is pregnenolone. Um, pregnelon m makes dhea, and, um, dhea makeshi testosterone. Testosterone makes estrogen. So if we are constantly stressed, pregnellone is going to be like, well, I can't make sex hormones right now because I have to take care of cortisol. So pregnetolone, um, is going to be helping cortisol to continue to increase, and then your sex hormones are going to be here like, hey, pregnenolone, we're low in testosterone. We're low in estrogen, we're low in progesterone, and we're having some issues here and say, well, I just can't help you right now because cortisol needs me. She's very stressed, and I'm helping her. Right. So that's when a lot of people start having a lot of also hormonal issues when they have high cortisol, that all affects our digestive health, hormonal health, vagus nerve and all that.

Speaking of digestive health, the way you've just explained it, does diet also contribute

>> Robert Sandleila: Speaking of digestive health, the way you've just explained it, the hormonal changes, does the diet also contribute? And let me just explain. For instance, if you go on a vegan diet, it might agree with you. But if I follow you, because I saw you on TikTok, and I say, okay, let me change. Let me be vegan, like rosemary. Is that a good idea? And is everybody supposed to stick to one diet and just eat greens and fruits?

>> Rosemary Rutteki: Okay, well, number one, I am not, I'm not vegan.

>> Robert Sandleila: No. Just as an example. Never am I. No.

>> Rosemary Rutteki: Okay, good. Good. I believe in balance, so balance is very important. What I recommend to people, it's, we're all different. And some people are gonna do really good in different diets. But what I always come to conclusion is that all these diets, what they all have in common is one common denominator, they take out processed foods. So people that are vegan, they stop eating processed foods. People that are paleo, they stop eating processed food. People that are carnivore, they stop eating processed foods. So if you follow what all of them have in common is that they take out the things that cause inflammation the most. And of course you're going to start feeling great. The lesson is always do what it works for you, for your body. Maybe you don't have to do something as radical as a vegan diet or as a carnivore diet. Right. You can meet in the middle and say, okay, I'm just going to stop eating all the stuff that are processed. And what are processed foods? So things that come in bags that last years, like chips and candy, fried stuff and sodas full of, or, uh, juices full of sugar, those are things that are processed donuts, things like that.

>> Robert Sandleila: I love oatmeal.

>> Rosemary Rutteki: Mhm.

>> Robert Sandleila: Is the oatmeal that takes longer to cook better than the instant one?

>> Rosemary Rutteki: Well, that would be the instant one.

>> Robert Sandleila: More processed than the one that actually needs me to pay attention and cook it for some time.

>> Rosemary Rutteki: Well, the ones that are instant are easy to cook, so they are done faster. The ones that take longer, they might take a little longer to cook. So you have to see where is the oatmeal coming from? That will be my first question. Are you getting oatmeal that is organic? Because unfortunately, a lot of our crops are like corn and soy. Wheat and oatmeal are being sprayed with a lot of chemicals. And all these chemicals that have been found in studies, especially glyphosate, that they impact our gut microbiome and they can cause leaky gut and other things. They're very toxic. The bad thing is that all these toxins are already even having access to organic food, but at least the organic ones are not directly sprayed. But glyphosate right now is a chemical that is in our water, in our soil and our foods. We have seen a correlation between increasing chemicals and also an increasing autoimmune conditions and increasing cancers and stuff like that. And there are studies showing how these chemicals cause tons of diseases, but unfortunately, big pharma money and all these names are controlling our food system, controlling the chemicals. If you don't know you're going to be eating conventional stuff that are full of chemicals and it might not be the food that is hurting you, it's what they're putting into what they sprayed. Yeah, exactly. So in a lot of european countries, they have banned glyphosate, or, unfortunately, here in the United States, they haven't banned it yet. So what I tell my clients is do the best that you can to buy things that are organic as much as possible so we can decrease the amount of chemicals. Not that oatmeal is bad or not. It's the way that it's processed. If you're buying an oatmeal that is full of sugar, and it's not only oatmeal, sometimes they add other oils and other ingredients, then you're not having, like, 100% oatmeal.

>> Robert Sandleila: The reason I ask that processed food one is sometimes us regular folks who haven't studied this in detail as much as you have, like, for instance, think of Mac and cheese. If you make Mac and cheese at home from scratch, we are, uh, under the impression that that's better than the packaged Mac and cheese. One microwave in 30 seconds.

>> Rosemary Rutteki: Right?

>> Robert Sandleila: That's processed, according to us, because this one, at least, is from scratch.

>> Rosemary Rutteki: You made it yourself. Yeah.

>> Robert Sandleila: So we under the impression that, oh, if it's instant, if it's just put some water and put it in the microwave for 30 seconds, and you got a meal, or the mashed potatoes, uh, instead of peeling potatoes, we sometimes think that kind of food is kind of processed. So that's what I wanted to clarify, as I said.

>> Rosemary Rutteki: Well, it depends, you know, which oatmeal are you buying? Right? Because I can't generalize because there's so many quick, instant, you know, oatmeals that might be really bad, and there's some, like, quick, instant oatmeals that might be really good for you. So that will depend, you know, where it's coming from, who's manufacturing what they're putting on it, and all those things.

>> Robert Sandleila: Excellent stuff.

Leaky gut is when your intestines exchange nutrients into your bloodstream

And then please explain to us what a leaky gut is. And how would you identify that you have a leaky gut problem.

>> Rosemary Rutteki: Okay, so leaky gut is when the lining of your intestines are permeable, they're naturally permeable, so we can exchange nutrients into our bloodstream. So what you eat, all the nutrients can go into your bloodstream, but when those get more permeable, a little bigger. Right. That gut, then things that you're eating, like food particles, if you have any type of infection in your gut or bacteria, they made their way out into your bloodstream, and then when they're in the blood, their body's going to be like, you're not supposed to be here. You're intruder. I'm going to start attacking you. And that could be a start of disease, of an autoimmune condition. And that's where a lot of, uh, studies are coming saying, like, a lot of autoimmune disorders and a lot of also gut issues, or even, you know, leaky gut, leaky brain. Because when things come out of your gut, they're going to cause inflammation in your system. And that inflammation in the system creates a release of cytokines, all these molecules that your body's, like, trying to turn down the inflammation, also creating more inflammation and creating leaky brain inflammation in your brain. How you can find out if you have leaky gut, there's different things. For example, if someone have a lot of allergies, get sick a lot, have a lot of skin issues, have a lot of brain issues, too. Depression, anxiety, brain fog, dementia, there's some health conditions that might connect you to leaky gut. The best way is to test your stool. There's a, um, marker that's called sonoline. And sonoline is a marker of intestinal permeability. And we can measure that.

>> Robert Sandleila: So you can actually check whether, uh, you are, uh, at risk of having a leaky gut or not before it gets to that serious level.

>> Rosemary Rutteki: Right. We can check, where's your level of leaky gut? Right. If you have a lot of inflammation in your gut, and if you have leaky gut, uh, with a stool test. Mhm.

>> Robert Sandleila: And then why do you say that? Gut health is wealth.

>> Rosemary Rutteki: Gut health is wealth. Because we have found there's so much research that even keeps coming daily about the gut microbiome, the gut microbiome. It's amazing by itself, everything that we have uncovered so far of the connection with your gut and your health. So there's studies connecting gut health with cardiovascular health. So people that have gut issues that might take you to having cardiovascular disease, having autoimmune conditions, having brain disorders, having different types of disease. So if you feed your gut microbiome, right, 80% of your immune system is in your gut microbiome. About 60% to 90% of your neurotransmitters are made in your gut, too. So if we want to feel good, we have to tend to our gut microbiome. If we want to prevent conditions like cancers and autoimmune conditions, we tend to our gut microbiome. If we want to have balanced hormones, we tend to your, our gut microbiome. If we want to be able to have healthy detoxification, we should be tending to our gut microbiome. So the moral of the story is, instead of eating for pleasure, there's nothing wrong eating something that you're, like, really crave. Right.

>> Robert Sandleila: But what I, once in a while, I do like my cheesecake. Yes.

>> Rosemary Rutteki: But what I tell my clients and the way that I practice, right, because I practice what I preach, and I also the way that I. We eat here at home with my children, we first prioritize eating for the gut. Explain my kids. So if you want to be healthy, we have to make the boss, the queen, the king, whatever you want to call it, as I call it, the gut, the boss. El Jefe, um, El Jefe has to be happy. The boss have to be really happy, because otherwise it's going to let us know by us feeling sick.

>> Robert Sandleila: That's why usually sweet things like donuts or ice cream, it's dessert. It's after you've eaten the healthy food first, and then your parents reward you with, okay, if you finish your vegetables, you're gonna get ice cream.

>> Rosemary Rutteki: Yes. And there are ways, you know, if people want to improve their gut microbiome, there's things that we can do there. These are three things, right. You don't need to have a doctor to tell you to do this. Increase the amount of fermented foods in your diet. So, fermented foods increase the amount of healthy bacteria in your gut. Okay, so having good, healthy bacteria means overall health, right? Because we talk about all the good stuff, eating fiber. So what's fiber? Fiber, it's in fruits and vegetables. Pears, raspberries, asparagus, broccoli. The berries have tons. Pomegranate, starfruit, papaya, pineapples. Right. Sometimes people think on fire and they're like, is, uh, that a powder? Metamucil. You know, something I get from pharmacy. No. We get it through food. Okay. Uh, eating lean protein. So, you know, if you can eat animal products. So depending on people's religions and belief. But protein is really good to make muscle to stabilize your blood sugar levels, to give you energy, good for longevity. So that also is going to help you have a good, healthy gut microbiome.

Sleep is important because it repairs our gut lining and makes us feel good

Stress. We talk about stress at the beginning. Stress is a big one that impacts not only our gut, so many other systems. Sleeping, going to bed at same schedule, sleeping at least seven to 8 hours every night is repairing, repairs our gut lining, and, uh, help us feel good. So sleep is so important and having good relationships. There are studies that have found that your microbiome will similar to the people that you spend the most time with. And then when I test my gut microbiome. And, um, my kids and my husband, we have a very similar gut microbiome. And when I test families, families usually are close. They tend to have a very similar.

>> Robert Sandleila: Gut microbiome because they usually eat from the same pot.

>> Rosemary Rutteki: Right. Because our microbes interact with each other. And that's a good thing that our microbes interact with the environment. That's why when we were isolated during the virus, that was not good for our microbiome, because we were not exchanging microbes with the environment, with people, with the soil, with the air. And then being isolation also deprives your microbiome. You know, they say you become the five people that you spend the most time with.

>> Robert Sandleila: Yeah.

>> Rosemary Rutteki: It's also not only in a mental, uh, way, spiritual way, also microbiome way, because we, we share all these microso. And it makes sense. Someone there's sad and depressed, and you're like, I really don't want to be with that person because it brings me down. Have a low microbiome. Someone m that have tons of good microbiome diversity, and that gut is happy. That person is going to be happy. They're going to feel good, they're going to be energetic because they have good flora. I mean, uh, not generalizing, but for the most part, some people might have depression, anxiety, because other things not related to the microbiome. But if the root cause, if they got microbiome, and I see it in my practice all the time, people come to me with anxiety, with depression, panic attacks. And when I test the gut, I see that they really need help in their gut. And then they transform the way that they feel by improving their gut microbiome. By feeding El Jefe. By feeding the gut.

>> Robert Sandleila: Mhm. Because obviously you're in Miami and some of us cannot reach you physically to get this kind of help from you and guidance when you're online, how can anybody get hold of you? So that if they need help with their gut microbiome and everything related to what you've spoken about today, how can they get hold of you?

>> Rosemary Rutteki: Well, the good thing is that I have a telemedicine practice. So I work with people all over the states and Puerto Rico. That would not be an issue. And if someone wants to find me, they can go to my website, doctor Rosemarie rutecki. Rutecki.com. and I'm also in social media, in Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and you too.

>> Robert Sandleila: Okay, doctor rosemariereuteki.com. i will put that on the show notes.

One of Rosemarie's missions is to make functional medicine more affordable

And do you have a special gift for our, uh, listeners.

>> Rosemary Rutteki: Yes. Thank you for asking. So, one of my mission is also make functional medicine more affordable and have a way for people to have a start into their wellness journey. So let's say that maybe you are not ready, don't have the money or the access to start with functional medicine with a provider. So I created this online course that will walk you through the process of resetting your gut, lowering the inflammation. I included recipes, different types of protocols. It's an amazing course, and it's only $97, so it's very affordable. And for your listeners, they're going to have a special code called podcast. So they're going to get a $10 off. So it's down to $87 for your listeners.

>> Robert Sandleila: We absolutely love those gifts. Thank you so much, Doctor Rosemarie. I will put all of those details, as I said, on the show notes, because I think a lot of the time when we hear this information, some of us don't know how to get started.

Intermittent fasting is reducing the amount of calories you eat during the day

For instance, you will hear suggestions like, and I would like your thoughts on this, like, okay, do intermittent fasting. Let everything that's already in there just take its time to leave your body. What are your thoughts on that?

>> Rosemary Rutteki: So, intermittent fasting, they have been doing a lot of research into that, and it's really good. Pretty much. Intermittent fasting is reducing the amount of calories that you eat in your in during the day. And the problem is that we have as a society is that we over consume calories. We eat a lot of food, right? And then things, and we don't understand. That's something that I also learn how to track my calories, how to use an app, and then I enter what I eat through the day. And I always tell people to do that as an exercise, just to learn how much protein you're eating through the day, for me, was an eye opening because I'm like, wow, I'm eating very little protein. My macros were all on, um, balance. And learning how to balance your macros is really important. Intermittent term fasting is great because you're lowering the amount of calories that you're eating, and you're also restricting to a certain amount of time. And a lot of people are constantly eating. And it's important to at least give your body 12 hours of, uh, not eating anything so the digestive system can repair. And it's good because we have something that is called the migrating motor complex in our gut. I call it, it's like the vacuum cleaner. So after you eat that migrating motor complex is going to start working in cleaning up your gut. Right. Preparing you for the next meal. So if you're constantly eating, you're not allowing the migrating motor complex to do its job. So that's why it's so important to stop eating at least 2 hours before you go to bed, because then you allow your circadian rhythm to start working. Right. That affects our internal clock. It takes about two to 3 hours to digest the food. So by the time you go to bed, you're ready to finish your digestion. And instead of being asleep digesting food, you are asleep, repairing, you're doing what you're supposed to do. So, yes, intermittent fasting is great. It's a great option. Females, we got to be a little bit more careful because doing fasting for 16, 18 hours can impact our hormones. Most of the studies in intermittent fasting are done with males. We're very different hormonally from males. So we got to pay attention into that. A lot of females that, uh, when they start intermittent fasting, they do 16, 18 hours and pushing it too much. They're feeling very tired, they're feeling very fatigued. And you can get the same effects by lowering your calories, if that's the case, that you're eating too much food. Right?

>> Robert Sandleila: Right.

>> Rosemary Rutteki: So that's the anti aging effect, that the aging effect is not eating too much.

If you're the hungry type and I love food, do you have any suggestions

>> Robert Sandleila: If you're the hungry type and I love food, if you're the hungry type and you must intermittent fast, do you have any foods that are, ah, lower calorie but feeling obviously everybody, like we said earlier, everybody's diet is different. Whatever your preferences are, uh, stick with that. But do you have any general suggestions on if you are constantly hungry, but these ones will be lower calories. So it would be almost like you are sticking to that program. I can finish a box of Krispy Kreme, you know what I mean? Because there's certain foods that if you eat less off, they will fill you quickly. What kinds of foods would you suggest in that?

>> Rosemary Rutteki: So fiber, right. If you want to improve the way that you feel and, uh, not be hungry, prioritize protein because protein is very satiating, right. So having good amount of protein, so at least, you know, 30 to 50 grams of protein per meal is recommended, or 1 gram per your ideal body weight. And, uh, those things that we have to calculate. So being with someone like me that can guide you through it or a nutritionist that can find what exactly you need, that'll be the first choice. And then when you have nutrients in you, you're not going to be hungry, right. But when we eat a lot of processed foods, those foods doesn't have nutrients, and then we're going to be constantly eating more. Another thing that I have found is that if you have a lot of candida or yeast overgrowth in your body, you're going to tend to be hungry for a lot of sugar because candida wants you to eat more sugar. When I help my clients with and I find that they have candida overgrowth, and then they tell me, yeah, I'm always hungry and craving sugar. And then when we finish or almost done with the Candida protocol, they're like, I don't have any more cravings. And they're like, this is wild. And I'm like, yes, because the root cause of your cravings was your candida overgrowth.

>> Robert Sandleila: Like I said, there's a root cause. There's always something in your life. There's always something that is imbalanced that will then make you crave something. That's usually not the best for you.

>> Rosemary Rutteki: Right? Because if you're eating enough calories or you are overeating food and you're still hungry, that's a sign that you might be having some candida overgrowth in your body and that's why you want to continue eating more. There's different, of course, every person is different. And we got to personalize the approach and then finding what is the root cause.

>> Robert Sandleila: Excellent staff Doctor Rosemary Rutaki. This has been so educational and I'm so glad you've been here today. Thank you so much.

>> Rosemary Rutteki: Thank you for having me.

>> Robert Sandleila: My absolute pleasure. And please give us your website again.

>> Rosemary Rutteki: Yes, doctor Rosemarie. So, Dr. Rosemarie. Rooteki.com.

>> Robert Sandleila: Okay. Thank you so much, Doctor Rosemarie. Thank you for joining us on the speaking on communicating podcast once again. Please log on to Apple and Spotify, leave us a rating and a review and what you'd like for us to discuss on the show that will be of benefit to you. We encourage you to continue to get communicating and let us know how communication skills continue to improve your life professionally and personally. And stay tuned for more episodes to come.