What do spit, jet lag, chewing your food, and resilience have in common?
More than you think.
In this episode, I sit down with my longtime friend and colleague Patti Milligan — dietitian, neuroscience-of-taste researcher, and now PhD — to talk about something most of us never think about… saliva.
Yep. Spit.
Turns out it might be one of the most underrated keys to digestion, immunity, stress management, and even how well you age.
We first worked together decades ago creating fresh, actually-healthy fast food (back when that was revolutionary). Since then, Patti’s career has taken her from hospital nutrition to executive performance Coaching to studying the neuroscience of taste at the Sorbonne in Paris — and eventually into researching what really happens to our bodies when we Travel.
Spoiler: your saliva drops 30–50%.
And that one shift affects everything.
This conversation is geeky in the most fun way — but also wildly practical. You’ll walk away with simple tools you can use today.
✨ What We Talk About
- How Patti went from dietitian to PhD studying the neuroscience of taste
- Why saliva is far more important than we ever realized
- The connection between saliva, stress, and your nervous system
- Why travel (even short flights) throws your body into fight-or-flight
- How that stress response messes with digestion, immunity, and energy
- The real reason chewing your food matters (your grandma was right)
- Why humming or slow breathing can calm your body instantly
- The surprising link between saliva and early disease detection
- Lymphatic drainage, movement, and why sitting all day makes you ache
- Hydration myths — and why plain water isn’t always enough
- Simple electrolyte tricks (salt + citrus = magic)
- Jet lag, resilience, and bouncing back faster
- Why Patti prefers “resilience” over biohacking or anti-Aging
- And yes… how a jet lag remedy we once wrote about over raspberry beer turned into an actual product 😄 It’s called Goal Time.
🧠 Tiny Practices You Can Try Today
- Belly breathing to shift out of stress mode
- Move your tongue (up/down/left/right) to stimulate saliva
- Chew your food thoroughly
- Hum or sing before meals to relax your nervous system
- Add minerals or citrus to your water
- Get up and move to support lymphatic drainage
- Focus on resilience, not perfection
Small inputs → big physiological wins.
💛 My Favorite Takeaway
We don’t need complicated protocols or expensive hacks.
We need awareness.
Your nervous system, your breath, your digestion — these are levers you can actually control.
That’s agency.
And that’s rebellious wellness.
Find Patti on IG
And LinkedIn
Me? I'm a chill late 60-something, (very late), women's health coach, podcaster, wife, step mother, Gigi to 2 grand baby boys, 3 cats, 2 goats, and many chickens. Former pro chef turned entrepreneur. My current ventures include BeMoreMarketable, copywriting for coaches and Rebellious Wellness Lifestyle, where I host a podcast of the same name and write on healthy aging topics that mainstream media skips. I untangle the confusion around health trends and bust the myths around aging so common today--like "this is what happens at your age." What age is that I want to know!
My side gig is gardener and flower arranger.
