There’s a Zoo in My Poo – And Yours Too!

16 Feb

When my daughter was five, we stumbled upon a book called There’s a Zoo in My Poo. It quickly became a bedtime favorite—one of those books I could probably recite in my sleep. Now, years later, she reads it herself, and every time I hear her giggle at the idea of tiny creatures living in our gut, I smile because… well, it’s not just a funny story.

It’s science.

Our gut is, quite literally, a zoo. A thriving, bustling ecosystem of bacteria, fungi, and other microbes—some friendly, some less so—all living together in delicate balance. And like any well-run zoo, everything works smoothly when the animals are well-fed, cared for, and in harmony.

But when the balance is off? Chaos.

The Gut Health Crisis: Why So Many Are Struggling.

If any of this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. These gut issues are more common than you think—but that doesn’t mean they’re normal.

🔹 Feeling bloated after meals?
🔹 Struggling with constipation or loose stools?
🔹 Relying on caffeine or sugar for energy?
🔹 Dealing with brain fog, anxiety, depression, or hormonal imbalances?

These aren’t just random annoyances—they're your body's way of telling you that your gut is out of balance.

And here’s the thing: quick fixes don’t work.

I see it every day in clinic—one person struggles with constant bloating, another has acid reflux that keeps them up at night, and yet another has IBS symptoms that have been dismissed as “just stress.” Some clients think probiotics will solve everything, others try eliminating entire food groups, and some just ignore the symptoms and push through.

Gut health isn’t about chasing symptoms—it’s about getting to the root cause, which is different for everyone. No two gut-healing journeys are the same. It takes time, patience, and a targeted approach to restore balance and address what’s truly driving dysfunction. And here’s the thing—gut health isn’t just about digestion. It influences every system in the body, including your skin.

Ever noticed how breakouts, eczema, or dullness flare up when your digestion is off? That’s because your skin is an extension of your gut. When your microbiome is out of balance, it can show up on your skin, affecting its ability to repair, detox, and glow.

This is why gut issues are becoming more prevalent. Our modern lifestyles—filled with chronic stress, disrupted sleep, ultra-processed foods, and overuse of medications—are constantly disrupting the delicate balance of our microbiome. Quick fixes don’t work because gut health isn’t just about digestion—it affects every system in the body.

How Long Does Gut Healing Take? The Broken House Analogy

Healing your gut is a process, not an overnight fix. If you’ve had digestive issues for ten years, your recovery won’t happen in ten days. A more realistic timeline? Months, sometimes longer, depending on how deep the damage goes.

Imagine a house with cracked walls, a leaking roof, and pipes so clogged that water backs up every time you try to use them. You wouldn’t just slap on a fresh coat of paint and hope for the best, right? You’d start by fixing the foundation, repairing the plumbing, and strengthening the structure, right? Not slapping on a coat of paint and expect it to hold, right?

But real healing requires rebuilding from the inside out:

1️⃣ Repairing the gut lining (fixing the foundation).
2️⃣ Supporting digestive secretions (unclogging the pipes).
3️⃣ Balancing gut bacteria (restoring the ecosystem).
4️⃣ Addressing stress, sleep, and nutrition (keeping the structure strong).

It’s about addressing the root cause, not just covering up symptoms. Gut healing takes as long as, if not longer than, the time the damage has been present—but when done properly, the results are life-changing.

And that’s exactly what I focus on in my work—whether it’s with my clients or even in conversations with kids.

Functional Stool Testing: The Broken House Analogy

While many assume that stool testing is the first step, the truth is that it’s often most effective once the basics are in place. But just like renovating a broken house, testing only makes sense once the foundations are in place.

If a house has cracked walls, faulty wiring, and water damage, you wouldn’t start by running a detailed moisture analysis before fixing the leaky roof, unstable foundation, or clogged drains. You’d start with structural repairs—sealing gaps, strengthening supports, and ensuring basic function.

The same applies to gut health. Comprehensive stool testing can provide incredible insights, but it’s not always the first step. It’s most effective when we’ve laid the groundwork—supporting digestion, reducing inflammation, and ensuring the fundamentals are in place.

Taking Gut Health to the Classroom (And My Clinic)

A while back, I had the opportunity to introduce this idea to a room full of eager young minds during a primary school assembly. I wanted to make gut health fun—because let’s be real, the second you mention digestion to a group of kids, half of them think of farts, and the other half are suddenly interested.

I used three simple slides:

The Digestion Process – A journey from bite to… well, the end of the line.
‘Zoo in Your Poo’ – Helping them see the gut as an ecosystem that needs the right care.
Feeding the Zoo – Which foods keep the ‘good guys’ happy and the ‘bad guys’ in check?

But here’s the thing—this isn’t just a fun school topic. It’s an integral part of my client intake form because your gut is one of the most telling indicators of your overall health.

And let’s talk about one of the most underrated but important aspects of gut health: poo.

💩 Your poo is a key detoxification pathway. If you’re not passing a bowel movement at least once a day, you’re not fully expelling waste and toxins. Instead, they can start recirculating in your body, leading to:

Hormonal imbalances (like oestrogen dominance).
Skin flare-ups.
Digestive discomfort and the list goes on . . . . .

👉 A Number 2. Once a day.

If that’s not happening, it’s a sign that your ‘zoo’ might need some support. And one of the biggest things that can throw everything off balance?

Stress.

How Stress Wreaks Havoc on Gut Health (And Everything Else)

We often think of stress as just a mental or emotional issue, but its effects are deeply physiological. And for women—especially in perimenopause, when hormonal shifts are already in play—chronic stress can make gut health even more unpredictable.

Here’s how stress disrupts digestion and overall health:

Gut-Brain Connection – Stress floods your system with cortisol and adrenaline, slowing digestion. Food moves slower (leading to bloating and constipation) or too fast (hello, diarrhoea). Chronic stress also weakens gut bacteria and disrupts stomach acid production.
Sleep, Hormones & Gut Imbalances – Stress disrupts circadian rhythms, making sleep worse. For women in perimenopause, this is even more pronounced.
Oestrogen Dominance & Detox Pathways – Stress suppresses progesterone, leaving oestrogen unchecked. If digestion is sluggish, excess oestrogen doesn’t get detoxed—it gets reabsorbed, exacerbating PMS, bloating, and weight gain.

Now that we know how stress impacts digestion, what’s the solution?

PS. Probiotics Aren’t Always the Answer

One of the biggest misconceptions about gut health is that probiotics are a universal fix—but they’re not. If the gut terrain isn’t in the right condition, adding in probiotics too soon can actually create more imbalance rather than solve the issue.

In Meghan’s case, we first had to assess the integrity of her gut lining. If the gut barrier is compromised (leaky gut), introducing probiotics too soon can exacerbate bloating, discomfort, or even inflammation.

We also needed to address:

Digestive secretions – Stomach acid and enzymes needed to properly break down food.
Gut motility – Ensuring food moves efficiently to prevent fermentation, bloating, and stagnation.
GERD (Acid Reflux) – Often mistaken for too much acid, but usually caused by low stomach acid and poor digestion which in itself creates the ideal environment for opportunistic species like H.pylori to thrive

Once we rebuilt her gut health in the right order, probiotics became useful—but they were never the first step.

Meghan’s Story: From Disruptive IBS to Creative Freedom

When Meghan first came to see me, she was physically and mentally drained. A talented creative, she had been struggling with disruptive IBS symptoms for years—bloating that made her feel six months pregnant, unpredictable digestion, and a growing fear of food.

She had already taken a food intolerance test, which flagged gluten among other potential triggers. As a result, she had eliminated several food groups, hoping for relief. But despite these efforts, her symptoms persisted.

She was frustrated. Everything she ate seemed to cause discomfort, and she felt lost trying to figure out the root cause. The constant bloating and digestive issues were affecting her confidence, her energy levels, and even her ability to focus on work and enjoy social outings.

Like many of my clients, Meghan had tried cutting out gluten, dairy, and other foods, but nothing provided lasting relief. Even with a ‘healthy’ diet, she still felt sluggish, bloated, and exhausted—trapped in a cycle of restriction and confusion.

A Step-by-Step Approach to Healing

Instead of focusing on restrictions, we built her gut health from the ground up. Over 12+ weeks, we worked on:

Gut-healing foods – Prioritising nutrient-dense, anti-inflammatory meals that supported digestion without unnecessary restriction. Bone broth is my go-to!
Optimising digestion – Strengthening stomach acid and enzyme function to prevent food from stagnating and fermenting in her gut.
Regulating meal timing – Introducing structured eating habits to balance blood sugar, improve gut motility, and prevent energy crashes. Allowing periods of time between meals allowing the gut to replenish itself is also important.
Addressing stress and sleep – Implementing nervous system regulation techniques, reducing late-night screen time, and improving sleep hygiene to support gut-brain communication.

One of the biggest game-changers was rebuilding her gut in the right order—we didn’t jump straight to probiotics or restrictive diets. Instead, we strengthened her gut lining, improved digestive secretions, and only later introduced targeted probiotics to support her microbiome.

The Transformation: Food Freedom & Renewed Energy

Within weeks, her bloating reduced, her energy levels improved, and she was having daily bowel movements for the first time in years.

But the biggest transformation? She no longer feared food. Instead of feeling restricted, she finally understood her gut, allowing her to enjoy meals without anxiety.

For the first time in years, Meghan felt in control of her body—not just in terms of digestion, but in her energy, focus, and confidence in her creative work.

Why Functional Stool Tests Aren’t Always Needed First

The advanced stool tests I recommend provide far more detailed insights than standard tests available in conventional medicine. However, they are used in a targeted way, not just for the sake of testing.

In Meghan’s case, we didn’t need stool testing. Her symptoms were improving as we worked through gut lining repair, digestive support, and lifestyle shifts—meaning the underlying imbalances were already correcting themselves. Testing would have been unnecessary at that stage.

But in other cases, when progress stalls or deeper dysfunction is suspected, comprehensive stool testing can be incredibly useful.

Final Thought: Listen to Your Zoo

Your gut talks to you every day. Are you listening?

So, next time you sit down to eat, remember—you’re not just feeding yourself.

You’re feeding an entire ecosystem.

And trust me, you want to keep that zoo happy.

REFERENECES

Banerjee, A., Sarkhel, S., Sarkar, R. and Dhali, G.K., 2017. Anxiety and depression in irritable bowel syndrome. Indian journal of psychological medicine, 39(6), pp.741-745.

Heiman, M.L. and Greenway, F.L., 2016. A healthy gastrointestinal microbiome is dependent on dietary diversity. Molecular metabolism, 5(5), pp.317-320.

Konturek, P.C., Brzozowski, T. and Konturek, S.J., 2011. Stress and the gut: pathophysiology, clinical consequences, diagnostic approach and treatment options. J Physiol Pharmacol, 62(6), pp.591-9.

Smith, R.P., Easson, C., Lyle, S.M., Kapoor, R., Donnelly, C.P., Davidson, E.J., Parikh, E., Lopez, J.V. and Tartar, J.L., 2019. Gut microbiome diversity is associated with sleep physiology in humans. PloS one, 14(10), p.e0222394.