Leaky Gut

Updated  June 2021

Is Leaky Gut Causing Your Chronic Pain and Symptoms?

Leaky gut is a term used to describe a gut that no longer functions properly.  When your gut has become compromised, nutrients are not properly absorbed leaving you open to chronic disease and symptoms

Leaky gut is thought to be the root cause of many chronic disorders including, but not limited to:

• Autoimmune disorders
• ADD/Asperger’s/Autism
• GERD/LPR and other reflux symptoms
• Depression and anxiety
• Brain Fog
• Thyroid disorders
• Digestive disorders
• Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
• Fibromyalgia
• Food allergies
• Migraines
• Joint issues (arthritis)

If you suffer from disease and other chronic symptoms a change in diet and lifestyle may help reverse the symptoms of chronic disease.  If medication isn’t working for you or you want to add another approach consider how food is affecting your health.  I know from experience that medications come with plenty of unwanted side effects and often increase the chance of having to take more medications.  Wouldn’t getting off the medication carousel feel fantastic!

I encourage you to take charge of your health. Be your own health advocate. Learn everything you can about your disease, the medications you take, and how a change in diet might help.

Gut Flora

The gut requires a delicate balance of billions (yes Billions) of bacteria known as gut flora. Proper gut flora is crucial in keeping the digestive tract healthy, happy, and working properly.  Certain foods and medications, especially antibiotics,  and antacids contribute greatly to the downfall of our gut flora.  Little by little friendly bacteria are crowded out and bad bacteria and yeast take over.  These inhibit the absorption of nutrients.

Our diet is largely going to dictate whether our digestion works for us or against us.  When digestion isn’t working properly bits of undigested foods and toxins, leak into the blood stream, cause poor absorption of nutrients, lowers the immune system, and can cause many undesirable symptoms such as achy muscles and joints, brain fog, memory issues, low energy, and more.

It is easy to see why the gut is key to our immune system since, the gut is the first step to allowing both toxins and nutrients in.  The key is to allow nutrients in, and keep toxins out.

Foods that contribute to leaky gut are: sugar, alcohol, food additives, processed foods, and poor diet in general.  Medications such as antibiotics (these kill off good bacteria) and anti-inflammatory medication such as ibuprofen (these actually cause gut inflammation) also play a role in killing off essential gut bacteria.  Our gut flora is a very delicate system that, once destroyed, wreaks havoc on every other system in our body.

How to fix leaky gut and possibly your health.

So, how do we fix a leaky gut, or a broken digestive system?  We change our defective eating habits.  We drop the S.A.D.  (Standard American Diet)

We are responsible for the foods that we eat.  Amazing right!  We actually have the power to reverse chronic disease, brain fog, and low energy.   A good thing to remember is that our bodies do not require food additives, toxins, or chemicals to function.  In fact these store up in our body and contribute to overall poor health.

Did you know we are exposed to about 164 toxic chemicals per day through our food, body care products, and household products.  Many argue that our liver is made to filter out all these toxins and therefore we don’t need to avoid them.  This simply isn’t the case when you consider how many toxins we are now exposed to.  If you look back about 50 years, you can see the evolution of chronic disease.  It hit us when processed foods hit us.  And exposure to all the contaminants we now use in our modern world.

Where to start:

Minimize foods and drugs that cause inflammation and have little to no benefit to our body such as:

• Sugar
• Processed foods
• Caffeine
• Alcohol
• Conventional dairy products
• Artificial sweeteners
• Gluten
• Grains
• Vegetable oils
• Anti-inflammatory medication

Increase foods that feed your body necessary nutrients it requires to thrive.

• Add probiotic foods such as Kombucha, fermented foods, or probiotic capsules/pills to your diet
• Eat lots of fresh vegetables
• Eat quality protein such as grass-fed beef, pastured chicken and wild caught fish
• Include healthy fats such as avocados, olive oil, coconut oil, avocado oil, and nuts
• Add garlic, ginger, turmeric for its natural anti-inflammatory properties
• Get adequate amounts of omega-3, vitamin D, Magnesium, Vitamin B12 and B complex through fresh whole foods (and the sun)!

It is imperative that, if you choose to take supplements, they are high quality, plant, or whole food based and not synthetic.  It is a waste of money to buy cheap synthetic supplements since they are not bioavailable; meaning they will not absorb well. Invest in whole food supplements to get the best value, like these.

I encourage you to take a look at what you eat in a day or a week.  Keep a food journal for just one week.  Is your diet made up of foods that nourish and repair cells or foods that breakdown cells?  In just one week, you might have your answer to why you suffer from chronic disease.  And what have you got to lose by changing your food habits, except a little pain, anxiety, and brain fog!

Cheers to Your Health,

Deb
Certified Health Coach & Drugless Health Practitioner
Your link to healing naturally

If you would like more information on how to change your health today:

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Sources:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3601187/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5440529/

http://www.todaysdietitian.com/newarchives/060113p46.shtml

http://drhyman.com/blog/2016/09/08/do-probiotics-really-work/

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