Gut Health

“All disease begins in the gut” – Hippocrates 400BC

“Your gut is directly connected to your brain” – Science Magazine

“A healthy gut means a happy mind and a strong body” – Giulia Elders.

“Joint pain, bloating and foggy thoughts are not imagined symptoms, They’re the result of improper diet…” – Nancy S. Mure

Gut Health Affects Everything

Health begins with the gut. When gut problems go untreated, it can cause a cascade of events affecting other areas of the body. Gut problems can cause systemic inflammation leading to a diverse range of problems such as headaches, joint pain, depression, weakened immune system, autoimmunity, weight problems, and fatigue. Inflammation breaks down other body systems.

Gut Health Affects Your Brain

Inflammation can break down the blood brain barrier allowing substances that are normally filtered out, to pass right through and trigger inflammation in your brain. Scientists used to think there was no way that your diet or your gut has anything to do with your brain. They thought of the brain as a closed system. Now, we realize that this is not the case. Impaired gut health means impaired brain health, which affects how you feel.

Leaky Gut

Leaky gut (intestinal permeability) affects the whole body. An unhealthy inflamed gut lining affects the tight junctions between the cells. Undigested food particles, foreign proteins, bacteria, and pathogens slip right between the cells and go directly into the blood stream, where they were never meant to be. The immune system attacks to eliminate them. It produces massive amounts of antibodies to the foreign proteins and food particles.

Antibodies produced from food sensitivities are slowly eliminated. If you eat foods you are sensitive to once (possibly without knowing), it could take your body almost six weeks to eliminate 75% of those antibodies. That’s assuming you don’t eat that food a second time. In other words, foods you may normally eat become like an infection as your body has to attack and break down these food particles at the cellular level. This causes widespread inflammation in the body. Over time, this continually wears down the immune system, leaving you susceptible to frequent colds and infections.

It can also cause vitamin and nutritional deficiencies when an unhealthy gut is not able to absorb nutrients as well. A healthy gut is a defense system to pathogens, a home to healthy beneficial microbes, helps with production of vitamins, and is responsible for production of some neurotransmitters.

Food Sensitivities

There are 3 types of food reactivities. Most people have heard of food allergies, which only happen in 4-6% of the population. These reactions are allergic IgE responses with the release of histamine and include symptoms such as swelling or itching. They happen within seconds to hours and can be dangerous or life threatening in some people. Food intolerances are common in about 20% of the population. Examples of food intolerances would be gluten or dairy.

However, the most common and also least recognized are food sensitivities. Food sensitivities are present in 30-40% of the population. They have a slow response that can last for many weeks, which makes it difficult to figure out which foods are responsible. Food sensitivities are an IgG delayed immune response. This is where your white blood cells of your immune system are directly attacking the foods you eat. This is like fighting a cold that will not go away, leaving you fatigued and not feeling well, with no real explanation. Seemingly healthy foods like cashews or even spinach could be the culprits, making it difficult to identify. Over time, unidentified food sensitivities can wear down the immune system, cause weight gain, and lead to leaky gut and inflammation.

Gluten Sensitivity or Celiac

Differentiating between celiac and non-celiac gluten sensitivity NCGS is possible with lab testing kits. Celiac is an autoimmune condition of the small intestine when exposed to gluten. Gluten sensitivity is a GI and full body list of symptoms that are triggered by gluten or even similar proteins commonly found in other foods. The difference is with celiac, one must follow a strict gluten free diet for life. With gluten sensitivity, they may or may not be able to tolerate small amounts after an elimination period. Gluten can be present in a variety of sources other than wheat and can even be found in some products labeled gluten-free.

Symptoms of Gut Disorders

Bloating, fatigue, headahces, allergies, weight gain, joint pain, depression, skin conditions, autoimmunity, constipation, diarrhea, nutrient deficiencies, brain fog, indigestion, frequent colds or infections, acid reflux, weight loss, itching or swelling after meals.