Meet The Gut Girls: Could Your Gut Be Behind Bloating, Reflux, Fatigue & Hormone Issues?
From Searching for Answers to Founding The Gut Girls
Long before The Gut Girls existed, Diana spent approximately 12 years working in the investment industry.
Life became increasingly stressful. She lost her mother following a long battle with breast cancer, walked through infertility, had two babies close together and was trying to balance motherhood with a demanding career and very little rest.
Then her body began changing.
She was losing hair.
Her skin was breaking out.
She had headaches almost every day.
Her joints hurt so badly that, despite having previously been an active athlete, getting out of bed and putting one foot in front of the other became difficult.
Diana did what many people understandably do: she started searching for answers symptom by symptom.
She saw rheumatologists, gynecologists, dermatologists and other healthcare professionals trying to understand what was happening.
Eventually, a connection led her to Angela.
Meet Angela Scopel-Levick: Connecting the Dots Between Body Systems
Angela came into this work with a chiropractic background and additional education focused on internal medicine within the chiropractic field.
That training expanded her understanding beyond musculoskeletal care into areas such as nutrition, organ-system relationships and whole-body wellness.
When Angela and Diana first began working together in 2017, their consultations were actually virtual. They spent years communicating primarily by phone, with Diana carefully journaling what she was experiencing and Angela helping her recognize patterns.
Angela is very clear about her role today:
When someone works with Angela through The Gut Girls, she works with them as a coach—not as their chiropractor.
That distinction matters, while her previous education still gives her a valuable framework for helping clients ask deeper questions about how different body systems may interact.
Diana’s Gut Health Story Changed Everything
One of the tools Angela introduced Diana to was GI-MAP functional stool testing.
Rather than continuing to view her hair loss, headaches, skin changes and joint discomfort as completely separate issues, With Angela's help, Diana began looking at what her digestion and gut patterns might be communicating.
For her, that changed everything.
As she began making targeted nutrition and lifestyle changes and started feeling better, she knew she wanted other women to have access to the kind of education she had been searching for.
Approximately a year later, she left the investment industry, started a wellness blog and Instagram page and opened a wellness store in her small Tennessee community.
Eventually, Diana and Angela realized the need was much bigger.
They combined their experience, education and passion for helping women understand their bodies and created The Gut Girls.
Today, Diana Murray is identified by The Gut Girls as an FDN-P, and together Diana and Angela provide virtual gut health education, testing access, coaching and community support.
Gut Health Is About More Than Taking a Probiotic
One of my favorite parts of our conversation was addressing something I hear all the time:
“I need to fix my gut. What probiotic should I take?”
Sometimes supporting gut health may include probiotics—but gut health is rarely as simple as choosing one supplement.
Your digestion can be influenced by numerous factors, including:
The foods you eat
How well you digest and absorb nutrients
Stress and nervous system regulation
Meal timing and daily rhythms
Inflammation
Microbial patterns within the digestive tract
Sleep
Movement
Individual food tolerance
Your overall health history
That is one reason personalized guidance can be so different from simply following the newest gut-health trend online.
How The Gut Girls Help Clients Get Started
The Gut Girls designed their programs so people can begin at different stages of their wellness journey.
For someone who is brand new to gut health, nutrition and nervous system regulation, they offer a foundational Self-Starter option.
This introduces basics such as understanding protein, carbohydrates, building balanced meals, inflammation and daily habits that support overall wellness.
For those ready for more personalized support, their Guided Transformation incorporates GI-MAP testing, coaching and a structured process for looking more closely at individual gut patterns.
One thing that stood out during our interview is that they don't simply hand someone test results and send them on their way.
Angela described one of her favorite moments as their Review of Findings, when they walk a member through what they are seeing and help that person understand how the information may relate to their individual story.
For many people who have spent years wondering why they don't feel well, simply having someone sit down and help them organize the pieces can be incredibly meaningful.
The Piece of Gut Healing We Don't Talk About Enough: Community
Changing your lifestyle can be difficult.
It can mean learning new ways of eating, changing routines, figuring out what to order at restaurants, adjusting exercise habits or simply learning to pay closer attention to how your body responds.
Trying to do all of that alone can feel overwhelming.
That is why Angela and Diana say their weekly community calls have become one of the most meaningful parts of The Gut Girls.
Women who have already been through the program can encourage newer members, share practical strategies and remind them that meaningful lifestyle changes don't require perfection.
Angela and Diana are also both moms.
Their advice is designed to work in real households with children, busy schedules, grocery budgets and seasons when you simply cannot make everything from scratch.
Sometimes healthy living needs to look like a beautifully prepared meal.
Sometimes it looks like finding a healthier shortcut at Aldi, keeping an easy protein snack available or using paper plates during an especially busy week so you have enough bandwidth to take care of yourself.
Sustainable wellness has to fit into real life.
The Healing Stories You Need to Hear
This is where our interview became especially powerful.
Angela and Diana began sharing stories of women who came to them feeling frustrated, limited or unsure what to do next.
I don't want to give away all of the details, because these are the stories I really want you to hear directly from them in the full interview.
But here are a few previews.
The Woman Whose Reflux Was Keeping Her Awake
One woman came to The Gut Girls struggling with significant nighttime reflux along with fatigue, night sweats and poor sleep.
One surprising part of her story involved something most people probably would not have connected with digestion at all:
the timing of her early-morning workouts.
Angela explains in the interview what they noticed about her daily rhythm, nervous system and digestion—and what happened when she changed when she exercised.
There is much more to her story, including what happened with her nighttime symptoms, and it is well worth hearing.
The Woman Who Could Barely Eat Anything
Another client had reached a point where she felt she could tolerate only a handful of foods.
She was eating essentially the same foods every day because trying something different could trigger symptoms.
What happened over time was almost the opposite of the restrictive gut-health approach we so often see online.
Little by little, she was able to begin expanding her diet again.
Today, Diana says she is one of the people in their community most likely to share colorful meals filled with a wide variety of foods.
Her story is a powerful reminder that the goal of gut support should not automatically be to create an increasingly restrictive diet.
The Woman in Her 80s Who Wanted Diana to Look at Her Hair
Diana also told us about a woman in her mid-80s who had experienced significant thinning and brittle hair.
Months after working with them, she and her granddaughter sent The Gut Girls a photo documenting how much her hair had changed.
But the sweetest part of the story happened years later when Diana unexpectedly ran into her in public.
The first thing this woman wanted Diana to see?
Her hair.
You'll have to hear Diana tell this story herself, because you can hear just how much that unexpected encounter meant to her.
The Woman Who Was Afraid to Leave Home
Perhaps one of the most moving stories involved a middle-aged woman whose digestive urgency had become so unpredictable that leaving her house required knowing exactly where a bathroom would be.
She described feeling as though her life had become controlled by her digestive symptoms.
What she later told Angela and Diana about being able to leave home again is one of those moments that helps explain why The Gut Girls are so passionate about this work.
These are individual client experiences and should not be interpreted as a promise that another person will experience the same results. Persistent or concerning symptoms should always be appropriately evaluated by a qualified healthcare professional.
The Gut-Brain Connection Matters Too
Toward the end of our conversation, we also touched on an area of health that deserves much more attention: the relationship between the gut, nervous system and brain.
Anxiety, stress, digestion and physical symptoms don't exist in completely separate compartments.
The gut-brain axis is a real two-way communication system, and understanding that relationship can help explain why supporting wellness often requires looking beyond food alone.
That does not mean anxiety, depression or other mental-health concerns should automatically be blamed on the gut.
It means whole-person health requires us to consider physical health, nutrition, nervous system function, mental health, lifestyle and appropriate medical care together rather than assuming everything exists independently.
If Your Tests Look “Normal” but You Still Don't Feel Well
One message came through repeatedly during this interview:
Keep asking thoughtful questions about your health.
A normal result can be reassuring and should not be dismissed. At the same time, one normal test does not necessarily answer every possible question about why someone is experiencing symptoms.
Sometimes another type of evaluation is appropriate.
Sometimes lifestyle, nutrition or stress need attention.
Sometimes another medical specialist is needed.
And sometimes simply having a knowledgeable person help you organize your symptoms and look for patterns can give you a clearer idea of what questions to ask next.
If you're dealing with persistent bloating, reflux, food sensitivities, constipation, diarrhea, fatigue or other digestive concerns, The Gut Girls offer a free introductory consultation to help determine whether their approach is a good fit.
Explore The Gut Girls through their Natural Health Network directory listing:Visit The Gut Girls on the Natural Health Network Directory
Watch or Listen to the Full Gut Girls Interview
This blog only scratches the surface.
In the full Natural Health Network Podcast interview, Angela and Diana go deeper into:
Diana's personal journey from unexplained symptoms to founding The Gut Girls
Angela's background and the unusual way she and Diana first met
What GI-MAP testing can—and cannot—tell someone about their gut
Why gut health is much bigger than taking probiotics
Nervous system regulation and digestion
The practical realities of changing your diet while raising a family
Weekly coaching and the power of community
The reflux story that involved changing workout timing
The woman who went from eating only a handful of foods to enjoying dietary variety again
Stories involving bloating, digestive urgency and hair changes
The gut-brain connection
And why learning to connect symptoms can sometimes completely change the direction of someone's wellness journey
Episode: S1 E16: Why Your Bloating, Reflux, Fatigue & Hormone Issues May All Start in the Gut | The Gut Girls
🎧 Direct verified episode page:Listen to The Gut Girls episode
Connect With The Gut Girls
If this conversation sounds familiar and you are ready to learn more about your own gut-health story, visit The Gut Girls' Natural Health Network directory profile.
You'll find additional information about their services along with access to their free introductory consultation.
The Gut Girls work virtually, making their coaching and educational programs accessible to clients nationwide.
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