By Emily Saunders

Do you suffer from brain fog, fatigue, bloating, head aches, or insulin resistance?  Are you eating a mostly clean diet, but still struggling with energy or weight-loss?

We’re starting to see more and more information about the importance of gut health for our overall well-being.  Often times our gut is referred to as our “second brain” because of the vital role it plays in our overall bodily function and ability to be well.  So much important stuff happens in our gut and when it becomes compromised any number of issues can arise.

Compromised gut health is often misunderstood.  Many people think that their gut is fine if they don’t have major digestive problems.  The truth is, those with “gut problems” often experience NO stomach upset, cramping or other symptoms of a digestive disorder.  Sometimes symptoms can be as vague as fatigue, skin conditions, headaches, autoimmune like symptoms and the inability to lose weight.  Unfortunately we are seeing more and more gut problems in children and young adults than ever before.

Let’s talk a little bit about what the gut actually is:

The “gut” is a different way of saying the digestive system.  It begins at the mouth when food enters the body and ends when waste is expelled through the rectum.  It’s a long and important system with many parts and processes.  Because we’re not getting into anatomy today we’re going to skip over a lot, but please do take time to educate yourself about how the digestive system works and how important the food we eat is for it’s health!

The two biggest problems that we find with gut health are destruction of healthy bacteria and compromised tissue lining also called leaky gut.

First let’s talk about bacteria.  Our guts are home to over 100 TRILLION microbacteria.  Your body has MORE bacteria than cells.  Gut flora promote digestion, immunity, regulate metabolism and protect us from infection. Poor flora health is related to all types of conditions ranging from autism and depression to autoimmune conditions like Hashimoto’s, inflammatory bowel disease and type 1 diabetes.

Unfortunately our western lifestyles are generally very hard on our guts EVEN when we eat relatively well.  Antibiotics, birth control pills, NSAIDS, high sugar diets, toxins like wheat and modified oils, chronic STRESS and chronic infections can all compromise our beneficial gut flora.

Now let’s talk about our gut lining.  One of the gut’s primary responsibilities is to keep substances that shouldn’t be in the body OUT.  The gut is essentially a long hollow tube.  As you can imagine there can be all kinds of problems when the lining of the gut becomes permeable.  When food toxins like gluten and chemicals like arsenic or BPA causes an immune response which affects not only the gut itself, but also other organs and tissues.

As Dr. Chris Kessar shares “while leaky gut and bad gut flora may manifest as digestive trouble, in many people it does not. Instead it shows up as problems as diverse as heart failure, depression, brain fog, eczema/psoriasis and other skin conditions, metabolic problems like obesity and diabetes and allergies, asthma and other autoimmune diseases.”

So- what can we do to help optimize our gut health and figure out if our gut is compromised?

There is a protocol called 4-R that is a great place to start:

1.  Remove:  Get rid of any junk in your diet.  This includes dairy, wheat, gluten, corn, anything containing yeast, high sugar products, processed foods and soy.  There is a lot of glorified junk food out there- just because it’s organic and even gluten free doesn’t mean it’s good for your gut or your waistline.  Sometimes nuts and eggs also need to be removed.

2.  Replace:  Support your gut by replacing what is needed for normal digestion and absorption.

– Drink Aloe Vera Juice (2 to 4 oz per day)

– Increase Dietary fiber slowly

-Consider digestive enzymes and herbs that aid in digestion like fennel seed and ginger

– Add l-glutamine to the diet

3.  Reinoculate:  We must replace and repopulate our healthy gut bacteria.

High quality store-bought probiotics can help along with probiotic rich foods like homemade sour kraut, dairy-free kefir, low-sugar kombucha, Kevita probiotic drinks (sweetened with stevia!) and more.

4.  Repair:  Help to repair the gut lining with l-glutamine, aloe vera juice (4 oz per day mixed with water), slippery elm (make into a tea), vitamin C (in powder form), zinc, magnesium glycinate, and healthy MCT oils like coconut oil.  Additionally be sure to stay hydrated.