Empowered Hormones with Sheradyn Dekker

Sheradyn Dekker
  • 5.0 (21)
  • ALTERNATIVE HEALTH
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

Living with IBS, digestive pain and hormonal imbalances are considered “normal” for many females. But as a former sufferer, I (Sheradyn) am here to break the trend and educate you on what is actually causing your symptoms. Leading you beyond pills, painful periods & parasites, I will be sharing interviews & conversations with women’s health experts as well as inspiring you with real-life stories. If you’re looking to use nutrition & a natural approach to heal your body and want real talk, with real women, hit that subscribe button now.

  1. EP#201 IBS or IBD? What's the difference & how do I test

    29 APR

    EP#201 IBS or IBD? What's the difference & how do I test

    IBS or IBD? What’s the difference & how do you test? You’ve been told it’s IBS. Maybe you’ve had tests done. Maybe you’ve even had a colonoscopy that came back “clear.” And then… you’re sent home and told to manage it. But if you’re still dealing with bloating, urgency, diarrhea, constipation, or pain — and no one has properly explained what’s going on — something isn’t adding up. Because IBS and IBD get confused all the time. And when that happens, women either get over-medicalised… or completely dismissed. Same symptoms. Completely different problems. And that’s where things start to fall apart. Because here’s the reality. The symptoms overlap — cramping, bloating, bowel changes, food reactions, fatigue. So it’s easy to assume it’s “just IBS,” especially when nothing serious shows up on initial testing. But let’s be clear. IBS is not a diagnosis.IBD is. One is a structural, inflammatory disease. The other is a label for symptoms when no one has found the cause. Big difference. Today’s episode breaks down what IBS actually means, what IBD actually is, why they get confused, and what testing should be done if you actually want answers — not just another label. In this episode, we cover: IBD (Inflammatory Bowel Disease): What conditions like Crohn’s and ulcerative colitis actually involve, how inflammation damages the gut lining, and why proper diagnosis requires colonoscopy and biopsy. Key Inflammatory Markers: How tools like faecal calprotectin, CRP, ESR, and blood markers help identify inflammation and distinguish IBD from IBS. The IBS Label Problem: Why IBS tells you what is happening — your gut is irritated — but tells you nothing about why. What Gets Missed in Standard Testing: Why colonoscopies don’t show bacterial overgrowth, parasites, stomach acid issues, or microbiome imbalances. SIBO and IMO: How bacterial overgrowth in the small intestine drives bloating, gas, constipation or diarrhoea — and why it requires specific breath testing. Parasites and H. pylori: Why these are more common than you think, often missed, and can quietly drive chronic gut symptoms. Dysbiosis and the Microbiome: How imbalances in your gut bacteria affect digestion, immunity, and overall health — and why you need proper mapping to see it. What to Test Next: The functional tests that actually give you answers — not guesses. You’re not confused because this is complicated. You’re confused because the explanation you were given was incomplete. You don’t need to keep guessing whether it’s IBS or something more serious. You need to understand what has been ruled out — and what hasn’t even been looked at yet. Your symptoms are not random. This isn’t “just your gut being sensitive.” And it’s not something you have to manage forever. Your gut isn’t broken. It just hasn’t been properly investigated. LINKS TO SHERADYN: Assess your gut health in 3min HERE Follow me on Instagram HERE.  Join my Private Gut Health Facebook group HERE. Book a Free Gut Health Planning Session HERE. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    23 min
  2. EP#200 IBS is BS (A personal battle & 4 easy fixes)

    22 APR

    EP#200 IBS is BS (A personal battle & 4 easy fixes)

    IBS is BS (A personal battle & 4 easy fixes)You’ve been told it’s IBS. Eat more fibre. Drink more water. Try low FODMAP. Manage your stress. And just… manage it. But if you’re still bloated, constipated, gassy, and uncomfortable — despite doing everything “right” — something isn’t adding up.Because the women I see are not unhealthy. They’re active, they’re eating well, they’re tracking their food, and they are still dealing with symptoms that don’t make sense. So at some point, you start thinking this is just how your body is.But let’s be clear. IBS is not a diagnosis — it’s a label. It simply means your symptoms don’t have a structural cause that can be found on standard testing, not that nothing is wrong. It doesn’t explain what is actually driving your gut issues.Today’s episode breaks down why IBS is one of the biggest dead-ends in the medical system, what is actually causing your symptoms underneath, and what you can start doing differently.In this episode, we cover: Low Stomach Acid: Why digestion breaking down at the very first step leads to fermentation, bloating, and bacteria feeding where they shouldn’t. SIBO (Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth): How bacteria in the wrong place create gas, constipation or diarrhoea, and why low FODMAP only reduces symptoms without fixing the problem. Parasites: Why they are more common than you think, often missed on standard testing, and can drive ongoing bloating, fatigue, and gut disruption. Dysbiosis: How an imbalanced microbiome affects digestion, immunity, and even your mood, and why restrictive diets can make it worse over time. The IBS Label Problem: Why being told “everything is normal” doesn’t mean nothing is wrong — it just means no one has looked in the right place. What You Can Start Now: Four practical ways to support stomach acid, digestion, motility, and your microbiome while you investigate properly. You’re not bloated because your body is “just like this.” You’re bloated because something in your gut isn’t functioning properly — big difference.You don’t need to keep managing symptoms or guessing your way through this. You need to understand what is actually driving your gut issues and fix it properly.Your gut isn’t broken. It just hasn’t been properly investigated. LINKS TO SHERADYN: Assess your gut health in 3min HERE Follow me on Instagram HERE.  Join my Private Gut Health Facebook group HERE. Book a Free Gut Health Planning Session HERE. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    25 min
  3. #199 Post Bali Belly - Why you've never quite healed

    15 APR

    #199 Post Bali Belly - Why you've never quite healed

    Post Bali Belly — Why your gut has never quite healed You had an infection. You recovered. And yet… your gut has never been the same. The bloating. The gas. The constipation or urgency. The foods that suddenly don’t sit right. And no matter how “clean” you eat or how much you try to fix it… it never fully resolves. Because when your symptoms started after a gut infection — Bali Belly, food poisoning, traveller’s diarrhoea — it’s easy to assume your body just needs time. But let’s be clear. The infection being gone does not mean your gut recovered. Those are two completely different things. Today’s episode breaks down what actually happens after a gut infection, why your symptoms don’t just “go away”, and what is really driving post-infectious gut dysfunction. In this episode, we cover: Post-Infectious Gut Dysfunction: Why your gut not recovering after an infection has a name — and why it’s massively under-recognised in conventional medicine. Gut Lining Damage & Inflammation: How infections disrupt your intestinal lining, increase permeability, and leave your gut more reactive long after the pathogen is gone. Microbiome Disruption: How infections and antibiotics wipe out protective bacteria, allowing opportunistic species to take over and drive ongoing symptoms. The Motility Breakdown: How damage to your gut’s nervous system (the migrating motor complex) allows bacteria to build up in the small intestine — leading to SIBO. The IBS Label Problem: Why IBS is not a diagnosis, but a description — and why it gives you no answers on what to actually treat. The Testing Gap: Why standard GP testing often misses what actually matters, and how SIBO breath testing and microbiome mapping give you real data. You didn’t just “get sick and recover.” Your gut changed. And until you understand what changed — and where the problem is — you’ll stay stuck managing symptoms instead of fixing them. You don’t need another diet. You don’t need another generic protocol. You need data. And a strategy that actually matches what’s happening in your body. Your gut isn’t broken. It just hasn’t been properly investigated. LINKS TO SHERADYN: Assess your gut health in 3min HERE Follow me on Instagram HERE.  Join my Private Gut Health Facebook group HERE. Book a Free Gut Health Planning Session HERE. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    20 min
  4. #198 Why you're so gassy (& it stinks!)

    8 APR

    #198 Why you're so gassy (& it stinks!)

    Why you’re so gassy (and it stinks!) You can eat the same foods. Follow the same routine. Do everything “right”… and still end up bloated, uncomfortable, and wondering what just happened. Because when your gas feels completely unpredictable — no pattern, no trigger, no logic — it’s easy to assume you’re doing something wrong. But you’re not. The problem is not your effort.The problem is that you’ve been given symptom-management tools for a root cause issue. Today’s episode breaks down why your gas feels so random, why nothing you’ve tried has worked, and what is actually driving it underneath. In this episode, we cover: Methane-Dominant SIBO: Why gas can be produced by what’s living in your gut — not just what you eat — and how methane slows motility, increases fermentation, and keeps you stuck in bloating. Dysbiosis and the Gas-Producing Microbiome: How an imbalanced microbiome creates gas regardless of how “clean” your diet is, and why food tracking alone will never give you the full picture. Impaired Motility: How your gut’s natural clearing system (the migrating motor complex) breaks down, allowing bacteria to accumulate and symptoms to become chronic. Post-Infectious Gut Dysfunction: Why a past infection — even years ago — can still be driving your symptoms today through disrupted gut function. Why Nothing Has Worked: The problem with low FODMAP, restriction, and generic protocols that reduce symptoms temporarily but never address the underlying driver. The Testing Gap: Why standard GP testing often misses what actually matters, and how proper breath testing and microbiome mapping give you the data you need. You’re not gassy because you ate the wrong food. You’re gassy because your gut environment is compromised. Big difference. You don’t need to keep cutting foods.You don’t need to keep guessing. You need to understand what is actually driving your symptoms — and fix it properly. Your gut isn’t broken. It just hasn’t been properly investigated. LINKS TO SHERADYN: Assess your gut health in 3min HERE Follow me on Instagram HERE.  Join my Private Gut Health Facebook group HERE. Book a Free Gut Health Planning Session HERE. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    20 min
  5. #197 Stop taking probiotics (They are making your gut worse!)

    1 APR

    #197 Stop taking probiotics (They are making your gut worse!)

    Stop taking probiotics (they are making your gut worse) One of the biggest mistakes I see in the wellness space is women taking probiotics, hoping they will heal their gut.. Women with IBS, bloating and constipation are told they need more “good bacteria”..So they double down on probiotics. But so often you’re not lacking bacteria, you have TOO much bacteria! In this episode, I break down exactly why your “gut healing” protocol isn't working, what's actually happening in your gut, and how to fix it properly. In this episode, we cover: The SIBO Reality:Why IBS is not a deficiency problem and how bacterial overgrowth in the small intestine completely changes your strategy. The Probiotic Mistake:What actually happens when you add billions of bacteria into an already overgrown gut, and why this drives bloating, gas and pain. The Brain Fog Link:How excess bacterial fermentation produces D-lactic acid, impacting your brain and leaving you foggy, flat and exhausted. The “Doing Everything Right” Trap:Why clean eating, supplements and probiotics can still make you worse when the root cause hasn’t been identified. Test, Don’t Guess:Why guessing your way through gut protocols doesn’t work, and the exact testing we use to get real answers. The Correct Healing Order:Why we remove and treat first, restore motility, then rebuild — not the other way around. When Probiotics Actually Help:The specific strains and situations where probiotics make sense, and why timing matters more than the supplement itself. LINKS TO SHERADYN: Assess your gut health in 3min HERE Follow me on Instagram HERE.  Join my Private Gut Health Facebook group HERE. Book a Free Gut Health Planning Session HERE. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    16 min
  6. #196 Should active women with IBS avoid intense exercise?

    23 MAR

    #196 Should active women with IBS avoid intense exercise?

    Should active women with IBS avoid intense exercise? If you do Hyrox, CrossFit, heavy lifting, boxing, strength training or hard cardio… but your gut flares every time you train, this is for you. Because I know what you’ve probably been told. “Stop training so hard.” “Just walk.” “Do yoga.” “Your body is too stressed.” And look, sometimes pulling back temporarily is part of healing. But let’s be clear. Exercise is not the root cause of your IBS. In fact, the research shows physical activity can reduce IBS symptom severity, improve motility, support your microbiome, and help your gut-brain axis. So if you’re bloated, crampy, constipated or running to the toilet after training… we need to stop blaming the workout and start looking at what is actually going on. Because most of the time, it’s not the exercise. It’s the context. It’s the fasted training. The pre-workout on an empty stomach. The coffee. The artificial sweeteners. The underfuelling. The food fear. The inflamed gut that was already struggling before you even touched a barbell. In this episode, I break down: what the research actually says about exercise and IBS why movement is protective for the gut, not harmful how blood flow shifts during training can trigger symptoms in an already inflamed gut why your pre-training meal timing matters more than you think the problem with fasted training, coffee and commercial pre-workouts how restriction and under-eating slow motility and keep you stuck in bloating and constipation why IBS is a label, not a root cause the deeper drivers I look for in clinic, like SIBO, parasites, dysbiosis and fungal overgrowth when reducing training volume for a short period can support healing, without giving it up completely You do not need to choose between a strong body and a healthy gut. You should be able to train hard without mapping out bathrooms before a run. You should be able to lift without looking six months pregnant by the end of the session. You should be able to fuel your body without being scared of food. This isn’t normal. And it’s not something you just have to manage forever. We fix this properly. If you’re done guessing and want an actual plan, book your free Gut Health Planning Call. LINKS TO SHERADYN: Assess your gut health in 3min HERE Follow me on Instagram HERE.  Join my Private Gut Health Facebook group HERE. Book a Free Gut Health Planning Session HERE. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    25 min
  7. #195 Under-Eating, Overtraining & the Binge Cycle w/ Elin Grandstrand

    17 MAR

    #195 Under-Eating, Overtraining & the Binge Cycle w/ Elin Grandstrand

    You train hard. You eat “clean.” You try to stay disciplined. So why do you still feel out of control around food? In this episode I’m joined by Elin Granstrand, founder of one of Australia’s leading binge eating recovery programs for health-conscious women. And we’re unpacking a truth most of the fitness industry completely misses… Under-eating and overtraining are two of the biggest drivers of binge eating. Not lack of discipline. Not “poor willpower.” Your biology. We talk about what actually happens inside the body when restriction, intense training, and chronic dieting collide. Because when the female body feels deprived… it fights back. And that’s when the binge cycle begins. Inside this conversation we cover: • Why disciplined women who train regularly still struggle with binge eating • The biological drivers behind binge cycles • How restriction and overtraining disrupt female hormones • The role of leptin, ghrelin, cortisol and blood sugar crashes • Why PMS cravings and IBS flare-ups often follow binge episodes • What’s actually happening in the body before a binge starts • Why shame keeps women trapped in the cycle • How to fuel training properly without triggering binge behaviour • What food freedom actually looks like for active women If you’ve ever thought: “Why can I be so disciplined everywhere else… but not with food?” This episode will likely hit home. And more importantly… It will show you why you’re not broken. LINKS TO ELIN @elingranstrand LINKS TO SHERADYN: Assess your gut health in 3min HERE Follow me on Instagram HERE.  Join my Private Gut Health Facebook group HERE. Book a Free Gut Health Planning Session HERE.   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    42 min
  8. #194 - Your Skin Won’t Heal Until You Test Your Gut

    5 MAR

    #194 - Your Skin Won’t Heal Until You Test Your Gut

    Your acne might not "just" be hormonal. You can balance your blood sugar, take all the zinc in the world, and track your ovulation until you're blue in the face but if there is a deeper driver impacting your hormones from the gut, your skin will not budge. Today’s episode is personal. For four years, I struggled with acne. As a practitioner, the identity clash was real. I was doing "everything right" the clean diet, the omegas, the nervous system work yet my skin still wouldn't shift. It wasn't until I stopped guessing and actually looked at my microbiome data that everything changed. In this episode, we cover: The Internal Shame: The reality of dealing with acne as an active, health-conscious woman and why "just wash your face" or "cut dairy" is often the most frustrating (and ineffective) advice. The Microbiome Turning Point: What my comprehensive stool test actually showed methane overgrowth and infections—even though I didn't have "textbook" bloating or constipation. The "Science" of the Flare: How methane overgrowth and low diversity trigger inflammatory cytokines and endotoxins that show up directly on your face. The Hormone Recycling Loop: Why estrobolome dysfunction means your gut is literally recycling old hormones back into your system, wrecking your skin and your cycle. The Targeted Intervention: The exact 8-week herbal protocol, specific probiotic strains, and hormone support I used to finally move the needle. The "Stress" Trap: Why hand-balling the blame to "stress" is often a lazy way to avoid looking deeper at what is actually going on in the body. You don’t need more discipline. You don’t need to cut more foods or buy another expensive serum. You need better data. Your skin isn't broken; it's just sending you a signal that your gut-immune-hormone loop is out of sync. P.S. If you’re done guessing and want an actual plan to fix your skin and gut properly, let’s look at your data. You can book a free Gut Health Planning Call and we'll map out the root cause.  Book here LINKS TO SHERADYN: Assess your gut health in 3min HERE Follow me on Instagram HERE.  Join my Private Facebook group HERE. Book a Free Gut Health Planning Session HERE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    15 min
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5
out of 5
21 Ratings

About

Living with IBS, digestive pain and hormonal imbalances are considered “normal” for many females. But as a former sufferer, I (Sheradyn) am here to break the trend and educate you on what is actually causing your symptoms. Leading you beyond pills, painful periods & parasites, I will be sharing interviews & conversations with women’s health experts as well as inspiring you with real-life stories. If you’re looking to use nutrition & a natural approach to heal your body and want real talk, with real women, hit that subscribe button now.

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