[APPLAUSE] - We are focusing on a hot topic that's all over TikTok, our gut. With over 3 billion views on the hashtag #guthealth, we're here to find out why it's something that has millions of us seeking answers. Dr. Kellyanne Petrucci is a board-certified naturopathic physician and New York Times best selling author, who's out with her new book, Dr. Kellyann's Bone Broth Breakthrough. Please welcome Dr. Kellyann. - Hello. - Hi, thank you so much. - My pleasure, so happy to be here. - Well, and it's funny, because when you say the word gut, gut health, it isn't sexy, but-- - It isn't. I'm determined to make it sexy. SARA HAINES: No, you are going to make it sexy. But we also realize it's linked to, like everything these days comes back to the gut. So how did you get into it? And why do you love doing this work? - I love doing this work because I see so many people that hit a wall. They don't know how to get results. They don't understand why. And when you discover the power of paying attention to the gut, what the gut really needs, it hits and affects so many different parts of the body. So if you're someone out there, you say, I feel aimless, I'm not getting results, I don't know what to do, gut health is definitely something you want to look into. - Well, and why does it matter? - It matters because if you think about it, when we're talking about gut health, we're talking about our intestines. They're about-- - Also sexy. - --25 feet. Very sexy, very, because they're 25 feet long. And it's a long narrow tube. It's got all this bacteria in there. And here's what you have to know. If you feed that bacteria the good stuff, magic really can happen. Because you have your brain that's connected to your gut. It's called the brain gut connection. Your skin is connected to it. These are channels that are talking and communicating all of the time. So a lot of answers and a lot of power lies within there. 70% of your immune system-- SARA HAINES: Wow. - --is in the gut. And everything rises and falls on the immune system. So there's a lot of important things happening in the gut. - Now, what are potential signs of a healthy gut? How do if you're doing OK? - OK, the major, major sign is that when you go to the bathroom, you are not in pain, it's easy, you go every day, and I have to get graphic here for a moment, when you go to the bathroom, it's an S-shaped log. There's an actual physical chart that shows that this is signs of a normal healthy body. But think of it this way. How many things can we observe that tells us our bodies functioning as it should? We can look at our skin. SARA HAINES: Yeah. - We can look at our tongue, our tongue tells us a lot. And we can look at our stool. So it's actually one of the things that we can look at that's a huge tell behind what's going on inside the body. - A huge indicator. - A huge indicator. SARA HAINES: Right. I know that fiber can help with those things. KELLYANN PETRUCCI: Yes. - So what are some high fiber foods that we can incorporate into our diet to make sure we're keeping our gut healthy? - So most of us don't get nearly enough fiber. We are severely, severely low on the fiber scale, most patients that I've seen over the years. Why it's important, is because that long tube I discussed, it's got to be cleansed, and not clogged. Always think that way. What am I putting in my lunch, breakfast, dinner, snack that's going to keep that cleansed? SARA HAINES: Yeah. - So here's an easy thing. Flax or chia seeds. - OK. - You can just throw them in anything, it's really quite easy. And it just makes it so much easier for things to flow through. A lot of the healthy oils. We're talking a lot about oils and what's healthy, and healthy fats. Incorporating some healthy fats in your diet makes a big difference. Because when I talk about that intestine and I talk about those bacteria in there, diversity is so important. There's about 200 species in there. You want to keep them very diverse and highly populated. Fiber can do that. That's one of the ways. Another way is healthy oils. They push things through. So start looking at, do I need maybe a supplement for that, do I want to incorporate more olive oil, avocado oil-- - Or in a salad you can put the chia seeds, the flax, and the olive oil. - So easy. Shake anything. If you're making a shake, make it easy. - As we speak of these indicators of our fiber intake and gut health, you say to keep a calendar. - You know what? We keep a calendar on a lot of things. - Yes, we do. - This is the important one, because when you start tracking, you can say, oh gosh, you know, today I ate this, and this is what it yielded, this is what I got. It makes a big difference. You can start tracking even thought and emotional patterns. Because I talk about that gut brain axis. SARA HAINES: Yeah. - Guys, this is so important. This is absolutely vital. We're learning more and more about how the gut plays out in our emotional well-being. SARA HAINES: Yes. - And if you don't believe me, tell me if you've had a bad day, what do you want. You want those comfort foods. If you've got a date or you've got a test to take, what happens? You get butterflies in your stomach. If you look at food that doesn't look appealing, you instantly feel sick to your stomach. That is those connections talking. We have pathways that tell us, eh, this doesn't make me feel good. So for emotional health, again, we look to the gut. - Well, I feel like that's why we're seeing it associated with everything from our skin to, as you're saying, gut health, but also mental health, which has come up. And tips to keeping a healthy gut are all over TikTok. And now some dieticians are worried that users are getting their information from sources that aren't reputable, which online, that's a big fear I think in all categories. - Yes. - But you've even debunked some of these-- - I do. - --videos yourself. Tell us a little bit about the concerns you're having that you've seen, and how people should be getting their information on this topic. - Yeah, this is a great question, because I feel like a platform like TikTok and some of the others, they're a blessing and a curse. SARA HAINES: Yeah. - Because we've got people more interested in making cool recipes. We've got people more interested in health than ever before. SARA HAINES: Yeah. - However, you do have to kind of go back and look at the source, and also understand these platforms. So TikTok, for instance, the main audience is 10 to 19 years old, and it seeps into the 20s, seeps into the 30s. So a lot of the information that you're getting may not be applicable to you and your life. - Oh. - And another thing. A lot of them are just to purge the body in one way or the other, a lot of the trends that I see. And I'm here to tell you, I've been doing this two decades, it takes more than one day to get healthy. You really do have to learn the principles and practices, particularly when you're talking about gut health. There's always certain foundational things that you're going to think of. Prebiotics, probiotics, you're thinking of fiber, you're thinking of hydration, you're thinking of collagen, you're thinking of rotating healthy oils. All of these things have to play bit and parcel to gut health. - It's comprehensive. KELLYANN PETRUCCI: It's comprehensive. - There's layers to this. - It's not a one-shot deal. - Now one of the things you champion for gut health is bone broth. - I do. - And how can we incorporate that into our, I love a hot cup of bone broth. - Yeah. SARA HAINES: So I love it, but how can everyone incorporate this? - It clocks in at about 70 calories. It's got upwards to about 16 grams of protein. SARA HAINES: Wow. - It has virtually no carbohydrates. And it's got those amino acids. It's got that healthy fat. It's got all of the things that really warm you to your toes. And you can incorporate it very easily. You can have it in a mug like you would your favorite latte. Maybe have it for a snack in the afternoon. And what I say about bone broth, which is so interesting, it both revitalizes you and helps you feel relaxed to sleep because of the amino acids, the glycine, and the glutamine and all of these wonderful things in there. So it's really beneficial. You can even put it in ice cube trays, crack those trays-- - I've heard of people doing-- KELLYANN PETRUCCI: Yes. - Yeah, I've seen this before. - When you want to saute anything, any recipe that calls for water, you throw in a cube. You can really just do about anything. I make what I call broth loading soups. I throw a bunch of good fiber in there, I have it over the stove all the time. And I'm telling you, you become ecstatic once you start doing this, because you feel so good. - Well, I love that. Thank you so much for being here to talk more about this sexy topic of gut health. - Oh, it is sexy. SARA HAINES: We're keeping our calendars-- KELLYANN PETRUCCI: We're making it sexy. - --and everything else. So a big thank you to Dr. Kellyann Petrucci for joining us. Her book is Dr. Kellyann's Bone Broth Breakthrough and it's out now. [MUSIC PLAYING] - Thank you. SARA HAINES: I love bone broth. [APPLAUSE]