Brilliant Ideas

#11: How Krista's SIBO Turnaround Program Gets Results with a Personalized Approach

• Alyssa Bellisario • Season 1 • Episode 11

Share episode

Holistic approaches can feel overwhelming with all the conflicting advice out there, but Krista is here to cut through the noise. As the founder of Sprout Your Health, Krista specializes in guiding clients toward better health using a comprehensive, personalized approach. In this episode, we discuss her journey into holistic wellness, the principles behind her methodology, and how small, consistent changes can have a big impact on your health. If you’re ready to find out how she markets her SIBO Turnaround program this episode is a must-listen!

For the Nutritionists, Dieticians, and Health Coaches 

This episode provides actionable advice for understanding the interconnectedness of physical, emotional, and mental health. Whether you’re just starting your practice or new to your own health and wellness journey, this conversation is for you. 

In this episode, we discuss: 

  • What inspired Krista to create her SIBO Turnaround program and the pivotal experiences that shaped her journey.
  • How Krista prequalifies clients for her program, including the symptoms and criteria she looks for before enrollment.
  • The biggest differences between trying to manage SIBO independently versus working with an expert like Krista for personalized support.
  • How Krista tailors her SIBO Turnaround program to individual client needs and why personalization is a game-changer.
  • Krista’s advice for nutritionists and gut health experts on creating impactful programs and connecting with clients effectively.

Links mentioned in this episode:

Send me a text if you loved this episode!

Rate, Review, & Follow on Apple Podcasts

Your feedback helps me reach more solopreneurs like you.

It’s super easy—just click here, scroll to the bottom, tap those five stars, and hit “Write a Review.” I’d love to know what resonated most with you in this episode!

And don’t forget to hit that follow button if you haven’t already! There’s plenty more coming your way—practical tips, inspiring stories, and tools to help you grow a business that makes a real difference. You won’t want to miss out!

Let's Connect on Instagram
alyssabellisario.com
Search your favorite episodes HERE

This podcast is produced, mixed, and edited by Cardinal Studio. For more
information about how to start your own podcast, please visit www.cardinalstudio.co
or e-mail mike@cardinalstudio.co

Krista:

And then I guess, in terms of people kind of dealing with digestive issues, I mean, my one thing that I say all the time, even on, like my social media, is listen to what your body is telling you, right?

Alyssa:

Welcome to Brilliant Ideas, the podcast that takes you behind the scenes of some of the most inspiring digital products created by solopreneurs just like you. I'm your host, alyssa, a digital product strategist who helps subject matter experts grow their business with online courses, memberships, coaching programs and eBooks. If you're a solopreneur with dreams of packaging your expertise into a profitable digital product, then this is the podcast for you. Expect honest conversations of how they started, the obstacles they overcame, lessons learned the hard way and who face the same fears, doubts and challenges you're experiencing, from unexpected surprises to breakthrough moments and everything in between. Tune in, get inspired and let's spark your next big, brilliant idea.

Alyssa:

On this episode of Brilliant Ideas, krista is joining me to talk about her SIBO program, a three-phase system to help eliminate SIBO and strengthen your gut microbiome. She is a registered holistic nutritionist and founder of Sprout your Health, where she helps people struggling with both mild and chronic digestive issues, anxiety and burnout to make the connection between what they eat, how they think and how they feel, both mentally and physically. Welcome, krista. Thank you so much for being on the show today. Thanks, alyssa, I'm looking forward to our discussion today Me too, and your SIBO program sounds amazing. I'm excited for our listeners to get an insider look at what the program is about and how it came to be. Now, before we dive into all of that, many of our listeners may be nutritionists or health coaches themselves and are thinking of ways to connect with what they create to their own stories. So my question to you is what inspired you to create your own SIBO program, and was there a specific moment or experience that connected your journey to what you created?

Krista:

Yeah. So I mean, I think there's no specific moment, but there's the whole experience in itself. So, for those people who don't know what SIBO is, it's small intestinal bacterial overgrowth and it's an illness that I had back in 2020, I believe and I dealt with it for about two and a half years and so I think it was really going through that process for that length of time. That kind of inspired me to do that.

Krista:

I was, you know, studying nutrition at the start of that and I think most people going through school you don't really know what you want to do after the fact. There's so many different options, but I think by the time I had finished school and gotten rid of SIBO, it was kind of like this is what I know best and I know I can help people with. And I think, again, in going through that process, I discovered so many things about, you know, both holistic and conventional medical care system that I felt could use some extra work or support for clients that I felt very alone with going through it. So I wanted to provide that to my clients so that they didn't have to kind of feel the same way that I did going through that.

Alyssa:

Amazing and for yourself experiencing these digestive issues for two years. That's a really long time, and I can imagine like not everyone gets these like clues that you know something is wrong. They just kind of think it's just oh, it's temporary, it'll go away. But I feel like, as complex as SIBO is, not every approach is going to work for everyone, and so when someone does reach out to you, how do you pre-qualify them to make sure that they're the right fit for your program before you enroll them? Or would you say, if there are specific symptoms or criteria that you look for? Now that you've done this yourself, you've cured yourself of SIBO, are there specific symptoms that you look for or criteria before you decide that they're the right fit for your SIBO program?

Krista:

yes, of course. So I do have a bit of an onboarding process. So I do have an application form on my website that people can complete and that's, you know, kind of the initial contact and I review that to see if it looks like they'd be a good fit and kind of meet some criteria, and then I move into the discovery call process where you know we have a chat like this for 20 minutes and I get to understand what they're dealing with, what their health goals are and if my program would be a good fit for them or not. And it really depends, I think at that stage, or I guess after the initial consultation, I kind of guide them into which program is a better fit. So I do have the SIBO turnaround method, which is my signature program, but I do work with people with general digestive issues as well and I have my gut transformation program. So if they're not necessarily an exact fit for the SIBO program, then I'll usually put them into the other program and we, you know, use a similar approach to understanding the root cause of their symptoms and making the necessary you know, diet and lifestyle changes and using supplements and food to overcome the issues that they're dealing with.

Krista:

But specifically when it comes to SIBO, there are some hallmark symptoms. Even for people who are listening and wondering if this is you know for them or not, like if you've ever been told you have IBS, there's a really good chance that you have SIBO. Ibs is not really a diagnosis, it's a syndrome of symptoms and you know SIBO is something that's actually quite recent. It was discovered in the last 20 years. So a lot of you know older practitioners or doctors may not even be aware of it, and so I always kind of start there, if you've had that diagnosis, to know that you know there are answers and there's a way to overcome this. You're not going to be stuck on a FODMAP diet forever dealing with the symptoms that you are, which can really control your life, and it's just not a nice way to live.

Krista:

So but I guess kind of the key symptom would be bloating, and I know bloating is a very can be very diverse term used because there's different types of bloating. People feel it differently in their bodies. But specifically with SIBO, you're getting pretty constant bloating. So most days of the week which is not normal you're getting bloating at breakfast, lunch and dinner. A lot of people may feel bloated, you know, after dinner, once they've had food throughout the day and it's kind of sitting and fermenting in their digestive tract.

Krista:

Um, whereas SIBO is happening pretty much all the time and people are very uncomfortable, they feel you know the term, six months pregnant, because they can't wear their clothes that they want to be wearing and it really starts to harm you know your mental state and how you view your body as well, but accompanied with that can be gas, boating gas can, you know, go hand in hand a lot of the time because of the bacterial fermentation and the other, I'd say the two other key symptoms would be irregular bowel movements. So with SIBO, there's different types of SIBO and, depending on the types of bacteria that you have, that can be indicated of the types of bowel movements you're having. So either constipation or diarrhea, or you can even have both, where one day you're constipated and you can't go, maybe for two or three days, and then the next day you're having very watery diarrhea. So it can be very, you know, all over the place in terms of like what you're experiencing in terms of bowel movements. So one thing I always say to people too, is start checking your the toilet bowl and like actually understanding what your bowel movements are telling you?

Krista:

Um, in our field, is pretty normal, I think. For some people it's a little uncomfortable, um, and then the other one would be abdominal pain. So, um, not everyone experiences abdominal pain but I'd say a good portion of people do, and that kind of connects that gut brain, um connection and the stress that people feel and feel, feel and the hypersensitivity in their stomach to certain foods that they're eating. But there are some other symptoms as well. So heartburn, food sensitivities, nausea, anxiety, joint pain, skin issues can all be fairly common. However, everyone's body is different, so it really depends on the unique body I know it's so interesting.

Alyssa:

Wow, that's a lot of symptoms that people might be experiencing, and you know and they probably don't even know that there is a problem. They might think, though, oh, it's just something that'll go away in a few weeks. Or, you know, they try to I find that they try to do it yourself, like there's a lot of people who, you know, don't reach out. Or they know they try to, I find that they try to do it yourself, like there's a lot of people who, you know, don't reach out. Or they'll just say, oh, I can just do it myself, I can look online for a diet and then try to fix myself. And then we think that, you know, we can do it all on our own, um, and then, when it doesn't work, then it's like well, where do we go for? Where do we go next?

Alyssa:

Um, I think the reality is, though, when we're having these symptoms and when we're feeling under the weather and there's a pattern, I think that you know, you, everyone knows their own bodies, so, um, but I do think that, with the right guidance, though, we could actually be, you know, going towards a solution instead of trying a million different things that are not working for us.

Alyssa:

So you know if we're on the wrong diet or we're taking advice that you know it doesn't align with what we actually need or we're missing the root cause. We're just treating the symptoms but not the root cause. That could just prolong our healing and recovery from the conditions that you have. And so I feel like when people invest in a program like this, they're looking for more than just information and they want solutions, guidance, real outcomes, which I find when I was looking through the SIBO turnaround method program. It's so comprehensive, like you, go into so much detail, but I want to ask you what would you say is the biggest difference between trying to figure out things by yourself versus working with an expert like you who can provide that one-to-one personalized support and structure?

Krista:

I mean, there's probably a couple of things with this. I mean, time is probably one of the biggest ones and, like I had mentioned earlier, I spent two and a half years of my life dealing with digestive issues because I couldn't find the right person, you know, for me to help me with what I was dealing with. So, like you said, a hundred percent, there's so much information online. A lot of people are trying to like self heal themselves, which you know. If, if you have a complex condition like SIBO, the average person really can't understand and identify what the root issues to that cause their SIBO are. And that's really what needs to be corrected right, like we can eliminate the bacteria, all we want, which is what we often see with conventional care, but then it comes back. So you need to have a trained practitioner who can identify those things. So it's going to save you time. It's also going to save you money because, again, when we, you know, take lots of different supplements to try and do it on our own, oftentimes they're the wrong supplements or done in the wrong order. Right, there's an order of how we do things in holistic medicine to get the best results and you can kind of spin your wheels for months or years trying to figure it out on your own. And I think that's where a lot of people kind of come to me as like I've tried this, I've tried this, I've tried this, what can I do now? And then you know, having that practitioner who can guide you through that will get you the most effective and quickest results.

Krista:

But I think think, specifically in terms of SIBO, a really important thing is reducing the risk of relapse, because I think the rates are quite high it's up to about 40% within the first year can relapse. So if the root issue of why you have it is not addressed, you have a good chance of it coming back. And that, I think, is really where working with a practitioner, generally in holistic care, who is trained in SIBO makes a big difference. And I want to reiterate, trained in SIBO as well, because there is a very specific way to have an effective protocol that a lot of even holistic practitioners are not trained in, like, for example.

Krista:

I didn't learn about it in school. I went and then got further certification on it. So you know, I think part of the reason that I struggled for two and a half years as well was because the people I was working with were not trained in it, so they weren't putting me on the right protocol, which took time, and so finding someone, I think, who specializes in whatever your health condition is is really important, and oftentimes they've gone through it themselves and they can relate, which makes, I think, a better process for you to go through as a client makes a, I think, a better process for you to go through as a client.

Alyssa:

I love that and I think it's so important just for people to just know that if you're you know, if you've been diagnosed with SIBO or you know a digestive condition, that you seek out the right support when it comes to their health and there's no such thing as a quick fix like a overnight result either.

Alyssa:

Right, you know, for myself I've audited many nutrition type programs, like their sales pages, where they've over-promised that people will see results in like a week and then the person who purchases feels really disappointed about it and I was saying to them, I was just thinking to myself, what I find, what I love about your program is that there's just so much more than just coaching and it's one-to-one, personalized, and everybody is different.

Alyssa:

They have different needs, different things that they, you know, different types of food that they need to eat, and I just feel like you in relation to other, maybe similar SIBO programs out there, your program it's not just the coaching they get, you know, the meal plans, they get the root cause analysis that I was looking at and they look at the action plan. You know it's very, very tailored and I love that, whereas I feel like there's a lot of nutrition programs out there who are more of like a one-size-fits-all solution and it doesn't really work for everyone. A one size fits all solution and it doesn't really work for everyone. And so I want you know how do you tailor your SIBO turnaround program to meet those needs of your clients and why do you think that personalized approach makes such a difference compared to other SIBO programs out there?

Krista:

Yeah. So just before I get into that, I want to actually share something that happened recently where I have one of my best friends who's a nutritionist and she showed me an email that she received from a wellness business coach and they had, essentially they're selling now programs to practitioners to then run clients through. So people aren't even creating their own programs anymore, which to me I don't know. It removes the personalization aspect and, who's to say, you even understand how to correct the issue if you're just following someone else's guideline. So I guess it's maybe not a good way that the industry is going, but I think that's what sets people like who do personalize strategies apart. And so, specifically with my program, like you had mentioned, I do have the root cause analysis and that is very tailored to the person. I mean, SIBO has many different causes and it depends on every individual what their root cause is, and so that's done after the initial health intake and we use that action plan to kind of work through it throughout the remainder of the program. I mean, most protocols do have a general guideline, you know. So SIBO turnaround method has a general guideline, but each aspect of it is tailored. So the root cause analysis is tailored the diet. Again, there's a SIBO diet that we follow. However, some people have specific food sensitivities or they may not feel good on certain foods, so I tailor the meal plans to them so that you know they feel like they're being heard and listened to and not just given a general template, which some practitioners do as well. And I think, specifically with SIBO, like meal planning can be very stressful for people who aren't used to eating the way that you need to, which removes a lot of standard foods, let's say, so it can kind of take the stress out of that process. And then another thing that I am a huge advocate of is like mindfulness and mindset and stress reduction techniques in order to overcome an illness.

Krista:

I think you know we hear a lot now about the mind-gut connection and I think it's a term that's used a lot and people are familiar with it now. But you know, with SIBO specifically, the mind piece plays such an important role and so each session that I have with a client, I usually give them some kind of mindfulness or mindset exercise to work on. Give them some kind of mindfulness or mindset exercise to work on, and that's, you know, again, tailored to what specific emotions or struggles the client is going through, like at that session, for them to then work through until we meet again. So I do think that having a customized program is very beneficial to the client in the sense that they feel understood and can have their specific concerns addressed.

Krista:

Versus a lot of, you know, things are kind of shifting towards group programs. Even the one that I did that did get me my results was a SIBO group program, which you know it worked. But there was definitely aspects and times when I was like I really wish I could have, like, talked to the practitioner and that wasn't an option. So, um, yeah, I think that's. That's really Just a bit yeah.

Alyssa:

Yeah, no, I love that. I love that that's so. I love that your program is designed to meet people where they are. And, yeah, I feel like a group program wouldn't work in this situation with SIVO, because everybody's needs are a little bit different. Everybody is, you know, going to vary in terms of their results and how they progress in healing their digestive tract. So I feel like that, you know, this is exactly what people need when they're dealing with something as complex as gut health. They need someone who specializes in SIBO and not just a general practitioner. That is crazy what you said about that. I can't believe that that's actually going on.

Alyssa:

And so now we've come to a point in the show where, if you are listening right now and you're going to get an actionable takeaway, I like to call them brilliant bites of the week. So, krista, what is one piece of wisdom that you can share? Well, this is twofold. So what is one thing you can share with nutritionist, dietitians or other gut health experts who want to make an impact with their own clients curious or looking for more support? What two things you could share to help them take the next action or progress in their own journey?

Krista:

Yeah. So I think, in terms of other practitioners, something that I've really noticed in my practice is by giving people the time. Noticed in my practice is by giving people the time, like in terms of like session length and not rushing through through a session, really gives people the feeling that they're being heard, which I think is a really key thing, especially coming from our conventional medical system where people maybe get five or 10 minutes with a doctor, which is seems crazy to me that you know a diagnosis or or protocol can be given in that length of time. But to really kind of empathize and relate to what clients are going through when you have those sessions, because I think that really allows the client to gain respect and kind of build a connection with a practitioner which in the long run is going to benefit your business because they feel comfortable with you and want to refer you to other people.

Krista:

And then I guess, in terms of people kind of dealing with digestive issues, I mean my one thing that I say all the time, even on, like my social media, is listen to what your body is telling you right, like if symptoms are warning signals that something is not not right, and when we, you know, ignore them or just, you know, say, deem them normal, right, what's normal these days? Because so many people deal with things. That doesn't mean that that's right. Right, bloating, everyone has bloating this day and age doesn't mean that it's not a symptom because everyone else has it right. It just means that we have a lot of good issues as a society.

Krista:

So really like tuning into what your body is telling you and addressing it, because the longer you leave it it can develop into more serious condition which can then take more time, more energy, more money to address it. So I would encourage people who you know, especially with bloating, let's say, since that's a big part of SIBO, if you're dealing with bloating regularly or have irregular bowel movements, reach out to someone. I mean, again, I offer a free 20-minute consult. A lot of practitioners in the holistic space do have those free consults just to get an idea from someone who is trained in this space on like, if it's something that should be addressed or not for them those are such great insights.

Alyssa:

Thank you so much, krista. That's I love that you've shared both the nutritionist if you're a nutritionist or health coach and then also if you're suffering from digestive symptoms as well. Just to reach out. Yeah, exactly, just reach out. You know, a 20-minute consult doesn't mean that it's a commitment, it's just means that you're reaching out to find a potential solution, which I think is um, it's great. And then, even if you, you know, are not ready at that time, at least you know what to do once you are ready. And so I know our listeners are going to want to find you online. So where, would you say, is the best place for them to connect with you?

Krista:

My website is wwwsproutyourhealthca, but I am a little bit more active on Instagram If people do want to like have a conversation with me and reach out. My Instagram handle is at sprout period, your period, health. And what was I going to say too? I also have a pretty active newsletter for you know, people who are just maybe new to this space and wanting to learn a little bit more.

Krista:

I send out, you know, recipes and gut health tips on a weekly basis, and I did also want to share with you my free, complete guide to understanding and overcoming your bloating so I can send you the link to connect that for listeners as well. But it's a really great guide, if bloating is something that you're struggling with, to understand the key reasons it could be happening. So I have the 10 main reasons why you could be bloating and some suggestions to improve it. Also, a little bit information on what you're bloating and the timing of your bloating can tell you right. So if it's more in your stomach or your small intestine or your large intestine, those can be indicative of different illnesses, as well as some of my tips for managing the bloating. But I do want to kind of reiterate with this that this helps you identify and deal with, but it's maybe not correcting, which is when you kind of come to me to help correct that.

Alyssa:

Amazing. Thank you so much, krista, for joining me today on the show and sharing so much wisdom and insight into your SIBO turnaround program, and I'll make sure that that link is in the show notes for people to access. I learned a lot from you. You put out some really great information, and I'm sure my listeners did too as well. You can also find me on Instagram, where I show you how to increase your monthly income by creating and selling courses, group programs, memberships and eBooks. If this is you, head to my website, elissabelserucom, to find out more. Thank you for listening and I'll catch you next time on another brilliant idea. Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Brilliant Ideas. If you love the show, be sure to leave a review and follow me on Instagram for even more insider tips and inspiration. Ready and follow me on Instagram for even more insider tips and inspiration. Ready to bring your next big, brilliant idea to life? Visit AlyssaVelsercom for resources, guidance and everything you need to start creating something amazing.