Wellness Through Gut Health and Supercharged Food by Lee Holmes from Supercharge Your Gut

Episode Overview

Episode Topic:

In this episode of NutraPreneur, Bethany Jolley hosts Lee Holmes, a trailblazer in nutritional wellness and gut health. Lee Holmes, the clinical nutritionist and director of Supercharged Food and Supercharger Gut, shares her compelling journey of overcoming a non-specific autoimmune disease and fibromyalgia through the power of food. The episode digs deep into Lee’s personal story, highlighting how her struggles led her to uncover the profound connection between diet and health. Listeners will gain insights into the inception of Supercharged Food, a brand dedicated to promoting gut health through clean and nutritious eating. The discussion also explores the pivotal role of gut health in overall wellness, emphasizing the impact of diet on various aspects of physical and mental health.

Lessons You’ll Learn:                                                                                     

Listeners will learn the transformative power of food as medicine from Lee Holmes’ firsthand experiences. The episode provides valuable lessons on recognizing the signs of autoimmune diseases and the importance of listening to one’s body. Lee discusses the benefits of anti-inflammatory foods and how simple dietary changes can alleviate severe health conditions. She also shares practical advice on maintaining gut health, emphasizing the importance of sourcing high-quality, sustainable ingredients. Additionally, the episode offers insights into building a trusted health brand and overcoming challenges in the nutraceutical industry. Lee’s journey underscores the significance of perseverance, education, and a holistic approach to wellness.

About Our Guest:

Lee Holmes is a renowned clinical nutritionist, author, and the driving force behind Supercharged Food and Supercharger Gut. With a deep passion for nutritional wellness and gut health, Lee has dedicated her career to helping others reclaim their health through the power of food. Her journey began over a decade ago when she faced a debilitating autoimmune disease and fibromyalgia. Through extensive research and experimentation with her diet, Lee discovered the healing potential of anti-inflammatory foods. She now shares her knowledge through her blog, books, and products, which have resonated with people worldwide. Lee’s commitment to education and sustainable practices has established her as a trusted voice in the wellness community.

Topics Covered:

The episode covers a wide range of topics related to gut health and nutritional wellness. Lee Holmes discusses her personal health journey and the challenges she faced while navigating the medical system. The conversation explores the concept of food as medicine, highlighting the benefits of anti-inflammatory diets and the impact of gut health on overall well-being. Lee shares details about her flagship product, “Love Your Gut,” and its gentle yet effective approach to enhancing digestive health. The episode also delves into the importance of sustainable sourcing and maintaining high standards in product development. Additionally, listeners will learn about Lee’s future initiatives, including new product launches and her upcoming book on long Covid.

Our Guest:Lee Holmes: Transforming Health Through Nutrition and Gut Wellness

Episode Transcript: 

Bethany Jolley: Welcome back to NutraPreneur. Your go-to podcast for insights into the nutraceutical industry. I’m your host Bethany. Today we are thrilled to have Lee Holmes, a pioneer in nutritional wellness and gut health. Lee is the clinical nutritionist and the director of Supercharged Food and the director of Supercharger Gut, where she helps thousands reclaim their health through the power of food. Welcome, Lee. It’s so great to have you today.

 

Lee Holmes: Thank you so much for having me today.

 

Bethany Jolley  : Yes. And first off, I think it’d be great if you could share your story behind the inception of Supercharged Food and what motivated you to focus on food as medicine?

 

Lee Holmes: Yeah, I’ve always been interested in nutrition and food as well. I love food, I’m a big foodie, but about 12 years ago I was working at the ABC in Sydney, which is kind of like, I guess the NBC, I guess in, in America. And I was working quite a busy job. I was a single mum and I woke up one day literally unable to get out of bed. I had no idea what was wrong with me. I would wake up with clumps of hair just sitting on the pillow, and my body was covered in hives. I was really itchy. I lost a lot of weight. I started to get really tired, really fatigued, and I had a brainbow. And back then, 12 years ago, I had no idea what was happening to me. So I just kept on going into work, you know, as you do as a parent or in, um, holding down a full time job. And eventually I just couldn’t get out of bed anymore. So I went through what I found to be quite a complex medical system. I was kind of shunted from different doctor to different specialist, lots of needles, more clumps of hair, that kind of thing, until eventually I was finally diagnosed with a non-specific autoimmune disease and something called fibromyalgia, which is sort of like an arthritic type condition where you wake up really stiff and achy and you feel like a 90 year old woman. So from there, the doctors put me on a concoction of different drugs, immunosuppressants, anti-inflammatories, antibiotics, you name it.

 

Lee Holmes: So many different drugs, about 20 pills every day. And it was difficult at the time because the side effects of the medications were almost worse than the symptoms of the non-specific autoimmune, which I’ve since been diagnosed as Crohn’s disease, actually, and fibromyalgia. But it took eight years to get a diagnosis. So from there, I spoke to the doctors because I noticed during that time that when I ate certain things, I would flare up. So, for example, I was putting like, I don’t know if you have Lean Cuisine there, but I was putting those, um, already made meals into the microwave for lunch with a lot of preservatives and additives in them, and I would get itchy afterwards. I’d get hives afterwards, and I would be eating, you know, a lot of inflammatory foods and wondering why I was feeling really achy. So I said to the doctors, do you think it has anything to do with my diet? Because I do notice there’s a correlation between when I eat things like MSG. I get a really racing heart, I get brain fog. Oh no, nothing to do with diet whatsoever. Just keep on eating. The hospital food, which I might add, was really bad. It was like two pieces of stale white bread, plastic, cheese, plastic, um, um, desserts with every single number under the sun. Anyway, I kind of did a deal with them and said, look, do you mind if I just sort of change my diet and see if that improves my symptoms a little bit? And they said, yeah, definitely.

 

Lee Holmes: You can try. It’s not going to make any difference, but you can try. So I went home after a few months in hospital and started to just cook really simple food, and I felt that that was really easy on my gut. And I really made a relation between my gut and what I was eating and the nutrition that I was having and all the symptoms. And from there, I started to learn and research more about anti-inflammatory foods and foods that could sort of calm down and benefit my condition. And I learnt more about the gut. I went to nutrition school, I studied clinical nutrition for six years, and I got really, really interested in it. From there, I wrote my blog, Supercharged Food.com, and I started to share some of the recipes that I was making in my own kitchen back then. And people, so many people around the world resonated with it, um, with the recipes and loved them. And so from there, I wrote my first book, and now I’m on to book 11. And the business sort of started from there. And I really have such a passion around helping people and around gut health and the links between nutrition and food and common conditions. And yeah, that’s kind of how everything was established. And from there I um, just a few years ago, I started doing products as well, um, and formulating products since being a clinical nutritionist.

 

Bethany Jolley  : Yeah. That’s amazing. And, you know, I can tell you’re very passionate about this and that you have a personal connection to what you’re doing. I also think it is really important.

 

Lee Holmes: Yeah. Yeah. But the personal connection is really important in your personal story, because when you’re talking about your story, I feel like other people can really resonate with it because people would contact me and say, you know, Lee, that was exactly what happened to me. I was put on steroids. I blew up like the Michelin man. I got really inflamed. Um, you know, my hair was falling out. I was feeling really itchy. I was getting hives. I was really tired. And so you can really make that lovely connection, and you can bond with people over a shared experience.

 

Bethany Jolley  : Yes, absolutely. And what challenges did you face when establishing Supercharge Your Gut, and how did you overcome those challenges to build a trusted brand?

 

Lee Holmes: Yeah, I think along the way there’s been multiple challenges as there are in many businesses. But I think in the beginning it was 12 years ago, there weren’t that many established and incredible sources of information and voices talking about anti-inflammatory style, diets and gut health and that kind of thing. And yeah, because I started out 12 years ago, I was kind of at the very forefront of it.

 

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Lee Holmes: And so it’s just being able to convey that message in a really valuable way for people and so that they would understand. And, um, yeah, it took a bit of time and it took a lot of perseverance. But the more people that I met who had been through certain situations and were really eager and hungry for the recipes and, and protocols and things like that, it made it a lot easier. And I think I just continued to really provide consistent information for them and peer research studies and, and backed it up with research and things like that. And through my blog, through my books, through all the content that I do on both websites, I try to really educate and empower people to just take it into their own hands and give them sort of actionable, practical advice as well that they can sort of take away with them.

 

Bethany Jolley  : Yes, I think the educational aspect is very important when dealing with food and nutrition and supplements.

 

Lee Holmes: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely.

 

Bethany Jolley  : So both of your initiatives advocate for clean, healthy eating. So how do you ensure the integrity and quality of your recommended ingredients and products?

 

Lee Holmes: Yeah, that’s a big one actually. The production side and the sourcing side is a really big part of the business.  With any ingredient or products that I use, we have a really rigorous vetting process.  and we research our manufacturing, our sourcing, where we get everything from. And we like people who are in line with our values as well and in line with our mission. We have really strict standards around that kind of thing. We’re sustainable. We try to be as. We try to be as sustainable as possible. All of our packaging, a lot of it’s biodegradable, some of it’s 100% compostable. So we’re trying to do things but also keep within budgets. And so it’s affordable for people as well. So we have all of these kinds of touch points that we try to do. And we maintain really close relationships with our suppliers and our manufacturers. And we go out and visit, um, you know, our, our manufacturers and things like that every step of the way, every batch we do that just to ensure that, um, everything is pure and, you know, along a line in alignment with our sort of mission and our values for sure.

 

Bethany Jolley  : Yes. The supplier relationships are really important in this industry and, you know, making sure you’re overseeing things since you don’t have complete control over that aspect, it’s important to stay very involved and communicate constantly with. Yeah.

 

Lee Holmes: I agree because things change and and and sources change and ingredients change and research changes. And you have to sort of really stay on top of things. I think it’s very important to do that.

 

Bethany Jolley  : Yes. Yes it is. And can you explain to us how your Supercharge Your Guts flagship product, love your Gut works to enhance digestive health.

 

Lee Holmes: Yeah, it’s really good. It’s. It’s a gentle cleanse for the gut. It’s a really simple product. We have 20 product lines. This is just one of them. Um, and it’s just a single ingredient, which is diatomaceous earth. And it’s like a porous, very, very alkalizing mineral food. And what it does is it gently sweeps through your digestive system and it picks up any impurities, heavy metals, parasites, bad bacteria. And it gently kind of eliminates it from the body. But it’s not a laxative. It’s just kind of, um, through a process of negative ions, sweeps through it and picks up all those particles. Um, so it’s very, very gentle. And it’s really good for sort of promoting regular bowel movements. It’s really good for constipation and diarrhea. So it kind of regulates the bowel as well. And it keeps your metabolism switched on. And there are so many other benefits to it too because it’s over 90% silica. So hair, skin you’ll notice your hair skin and nails will really improve when you’re taking it as well.

 

Bethany Jolley  : Wow. That’s amazing. And I like that you said it’s gentle, because I think a lot of consumers worry that, you know, they want to support their gut health, but they’re worried things might be a lack of the laxative effect or be a little, yeah, too much on their system at once. So, um, yeah, we explain that was really great.

 

Lee Holmes: Yeah, absolutely. I totally agree with that.

 

Bethany Jolley  : Yes. And there’s a lot of evolving science around gut health. So how do you stay ahead with your product development and educational content?

 

Lee Holmes: Yeah, well, I do a lot of professional development and I’m really committed to more education as well. So I do go to a lot of conferences and seminars, and I speak to many, many experts to stay on, you know, in touch with new research that’s coming out, trends that are happening, therapeutic approaches, any changes to things like that. Um, also looking at the peer reviewed scientific information as well, and staying sort of on top of that is really important as well. A lot of my friends are naturopaths, nutritionists, dietitians, but I also work with gastroenterologists, I work with microbiologists, I work with immunologists. I try to stay in touch with a lot of different people in the field of wellness, and that really helps as well. I think just having that, I don’t know, just having that collaboration with other fields, um, which I think nutrition really does, it is very holistic. And you do it’s so many parts to wellness. It’s not just about the food you eat. It’s all the different parts to wellness. And I also have quite a strong emphasis on customer feedback and giving them as much information and up to date information as possible. I like to talk with my community and work with my customers as well.

 

Bethany Jolley  : Yes, consumer feedback is often very helpful. And I think, yeah, with all of those different, you know, doctors and physicians in the various aspects kind of broadens your scope of knowledge, which can be very beneficial for you as well.

 

Lee Holmes: I really think it does. And in the medical field in the past, I’ve noticed that they’re very siloed. Not every expert will speak to one another, but I feel like our job is to kind of bring a whole team together to help people in numerous ways, because it’s just so Multi-leveled belt, don’t you think?

 

Bethany Jolley  :  Absolutely. Yeah. And what role do digital platforms play in your strategy to engage and educate your audience about the benefits of good gut health.

 

Lee Holmes: Yeah. So we have two websites, supercharged Boohoo.com and Supercharge Your Gut. Com so supercharged Boohoo.com is my blog that I started 12 years ago, and there’s lots of recipes on there and videos and tutorials and blogs and things like that. So it’s kind of like a really comprehensive hub. And then we have the Supercharge Your Gut website, which is about the products, and there’s a lot of information and videos and things like that about education, about gut health as a whole as well. And different, different, um, there’s different systems that the gut actually works with to give you whole sort of body wellness. So we also have a free magazine called Microbiome Magazine. We do free ebooks. We do lots of free magazines. We’ve got lots of things that give practical tips for people as well. There’s also I mentioned the recipes as well and recipe videos, which people seem to love as well. And we use our social platforms to like Instagram, um, Facebook. We don’t really use Twitter that much. We use, um, YouTube, but little videos as well, and shorts and things like that. Um, and we use TikTok just a little bit as well. But yeah, engaging through social media is a big way of getting our content out there as well. I find it fun. I really, it’s fun and lighthearted, the approach that we take and I think that that really I hope that that really shines through for people so that it’s warm and engaging and so people feel comfortable enough to come and ask us questions and things like that.

 

Bethany Jolley  : Yeah. Sounds great. Your experience, what are some of the most profound impacts that improved gut health has on overall wellness?

 

Lee Holmes: There’s just so many. The car is the engine room. When you think about it, it’s. It’s the key central to so many other other body systems and parts of the body. It’s the engine room, I think, that is very significant when it comes to the immune system and keeping yourself well and your defenses. So the gut actually has its own immune system, and it sits right there in your tummy.  that actually communicates with your brain as well. So you have the gut brain axis, which also kind of goes back to things like mood, thoughts, um, mental health, cognitive function, that kind of thing as well. So not only does it keep you well, it also can affect your mood. If your gut is out of balance, it can really affect your mood. It can affect your weight. It can affect your metabolism as well, and also your gut as well. And really, if it’s out of balance, you can have skin disruptions. You can have things like eczema, acne.  it’s all to do with the microbiome and the healthy balance of flora within that microbiome. It’s like an ecosystem. So that when you think about it, is quite amazing the way that it’s so pivotal in so many other parts of the body and systems, I think.

 

Bethany Jolley  : Yes, I think a lot of people don’t realize how much of an impact gut health has on everything. Your overall well-being. So, yeah, take care of your gut.

 

Lee Holmes: Yeah, it really is. And some people, they know that gut health is really important, but they just don’t know what steps to take. And that’s, I mean, where I help them with practical advice and practical ways, um, to actually help.

 

Bethany Jolley  : Yes. That’s so important. And yeah, during the success of Supercharged Food and Supercharge Your Gut, what future initiatives are you excited about in the coming years? well, we always have.

 

Lee Holmes: New things coming up, so we’re launching a new gut friendly range of products soon as well. we’re also looking to diversify within different territories. So we’re doing well in Korea at the moment.  we’re going to be building on that. I’ve just been to India. Um, I’d love to sort of help people’s guts in other territories like India and the UK, we’ve just launched in the UK as well with the products and things like that. That’s really fun. And the other big news for me, actually, is that I’ve got a book coming out in August. I’ll show it to you. Actually, it’s really cute. It’s called Nature’s Way to Healing A Long Covid Guide.  

Bethany Jolley  : That’s really exciting.

 

Lee Holmes: Yeah, and it’s all about long Covid. And long Covid is something that I have suffered with three times. I’ve had long, I’ve had Covid and then I’ve had long Covid three times afterwards. but it’s getting better each time because I’ve developed this amazing protocol that actually really, really helps with natural protocol. And it’s so good. So each time, the time that I’ve had long Covid, it’s lessened. it’s yeah, it’s something that I’m so passionate about right now. Millions of people are suffering from long Covid. It’s similar to chronic fatigue in a way. You can get so tired with it. You can get brain fog. It can actually bring up all the viruses that are stored in the body. So after Covid, you can notice that old things that you’ve had have come back. It’s a very opportunistic kind of virus. I speak a lot about that. And there’s a lot of research in the book, and I’ve interviewed so many amazing professors, scientists in the field of long Covid,  because it’s a very misunderstood sort of area of medicine at the moment. And there’s a lot of medical gas lining in it as well. yeah, I’m hoping that this book will really get out there and help a lot of people.

 

Bethany Jolley  : Yes. That’s so exciting because that’s true. There are so many people suffering from long Covid and, you know, people that I’ve known, they just don’t know what to do about it, but they obviously want to feel better. Yeah.

 

Lee Holmes: And it’s difficult because when you’re so tired, you’re absolutely exhausted and you can’t get out of bed, it’s really hard to get the motivation to do anything about it as well.  it’s just that it can be quite a slow process for people and it’s quite alienating. they feel isolated and depression and anxiety can set in as well. So there’s so many levels to it. It is not just a respiratory problem. It cuts across cardiovascular. It cuts across this blood clotting involved. There’s so many different elements involved. So long Covid and I’m really hoping that this book makes a difference to people’s lives.

 

Bethany Jolley  : Yes, absolutely. Because I think reading that and understanding it could definitely help with someone’s quality of life for sure.

 

Lee Holmes: Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah.

 

Bethany Jolley  : And for those that are inspired by your journey, what advice would you give to individuals looking to make a meaningful impact in the nutraceutical and health food industry?

 

Lee Holmes: I mean, it’s such a wonderful industry to be involved in. It’s fun because there’s a lot of change in it and there’s a lot of new things, and there’s a lot of research coming out and the people that you meet. I just think that I’ve met so many wonderful people in this industry. but it does demand perseverance and dedication, and I believe that it takes five years to build a brand. It’s not there’s not many just overnight successes. It takes so long to build a really solid foundation and credibility in this industry. but I think part of it is really all about maintaining your authenticity and your passion. And sometimes, you know, things waver. Sometimes, you know, when you’re snowed at work and there’s a lot going on, but trying to stay grounded and being really authentic in your message and what you truly believe in and and coming from it from a place of helping others. I think for me, that’s been one of the biggest things as well, and also cultivating and nurturing and looking after your community and ensuring that you know that they have the information that they need so that they can build better and stronger and brighter and more vivacious. I think it’s such a good industry to be in.

 

Bethany Jolley  : Yes I agree. All the advice. Great advice. Well, thank you once again, Lee, for sharing your wisdom and inspiring us with your dedication to health and wellness. We’ve gained valuable insights because you truly transformed the landscape of nutritional health with supercharged food and supercharge your gut. To our listeners, explore more about Lee’s work through the links provided in the description. Don’t forget to subscribe and share your thoughts on today’s episode on social media. Join us next time on NutraPreneur for more exciting discussions! Until then, stay healthy and empowered in your nutritional journey.