How To Get Your Kraut In
- You can ferment your own vegetables. But this is going to take some work. Ive tried to make the simplest possible recipe for you, which you can see in the graphic just below.
- Alternatively you can buy it ready made. The key is to avoid the canned stuff in the supermarket dry aisles, as it is pasteurized and thus devoid of live probiotics. To buy the good stuff youll need to hit your local health store and look for glass jars sitting in fridges. Youll know youve found high quality products when you see the price tag! But trust me, its worth it. One large jar should easily last a week for 1 person, ie 3-6 servings.
Symptoms Of Leaky Gut
There are many ill effects of leaky gut. As a result of your immune system being exposed to foods, bacteria, and chemicals it was never meant to see, it can flip into a permanent state of on sending a constant barrage of inflammatory chemicals through your body.
These immune chemicals and the inflammation they cause can lead to symptoms as diverse as acne, eczema, food sensitivities, hormonal imbalances, body pain, brain fog, insomnia, and even autoimmune diseases like Crohns, Hashimotos thyroiditis and rheumatoid arthritis.
This Condition Is Not Typically Diagnosed But Could Be Affecting The Health Of Many People
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My body never completely bounced back after I had my first child15 years ago. I’ve told myself that my symptoms were part of being a busy mom: fatigue, digestive problems, joint pain, insomnia, low libido, even mild-grade depression. Many moms I know suffer the same ailments, or worse. They’ll subside at some point, I told myself. My health care provider tested me over the years for various medical conditionsfrom anemia and thyroid disorders to mononucleosis and Lyme disease. The tests always came out negative. “You just need to sleep more and manage your stress better,” he told me.
I found an answer four months ago when I went to see Willie Victor, a nutritionist in Mill Valley, California, whose practice is based on the healing properties of food. She asked me to keep a food diary and take a blood test for food allergies and sensitivities.
The results were shocking. It turns out I was “highly sensitive” to a number of foods that had been a regular part of my daily dietdairy, soy, sugar, caffeine and gluten.
10 signs you have a leaky gut:
According to Dr. Leo Galland, director of the Foundation for Integrated Medicine, the following symptoms might be signs of leaky gut:
Consider Eating Smaller Meals And Matching Food Groups Better
When trying to repair your leaky gut, attention to detail matters. Thats why even the more trivial ideas are worth trying out.
So with this idea Im basically suggesting
- Eat 4-5 small meals a day, as opposed to 3 big ones. A day of eating would then look something like: green hulk shake , snack , small lunch , afternoon snack and dinner .
- Combine food groups smartly. This is pretty easy when youre eating a leaky gut diet. i.e. the foods that are hard to combine are pretty much out. But just in case you are eating fruits , make sure they are eaten as much as possible by themselves or at least away from heavy protein meals.
Now with all of that said, it is worth noting that I am not completely sold on eating smaller meals and more often.
Thats because I do like the thinking behind 2-3 meals a day only, since this gives the digestive system plenty of time for breaks.
So like with all ideas on this list, it really comes down to personal experimentation and seeing what works best for your digestive system.
IDEA #29
Why Vegetable Oils Are Bad For Leaky Gut
These industrial vegetable oils are high in omega 6s, and known to be a vast contributor to the imbalance of omega 3s to 6s in the western diet (that now sees us typically consuming 20:1 omega 6s to 3s, when historically we consumed 1:1 or 2:1!
Most industrial vegetable oils are also susceptible to oxidation when cooked and typically GMO based.
How Bone Broth Helps Leaky Gut
Not only will the fast give your digestive system a much needed break, it will also ensure no more big food particles are making their way through your leaky gut and into your bloodstream.
That means inflammation can cool down and your immune system will also get a chance to regroup.
Meanwhile, the bone broth itself has a huge benefit for our gut, because the collagen in it delivers a huge serving of the types of amino acids our GI tract feeds on in order to repair itself eg glycine, proline and hydroxyproline,.
These amino acids work great together to mend the damaged cells lining the wall of our gut. Amazing!
Once You Start Feeling Pretty Good Consider Trying Gut
Heres the ultimate list of gut-friendly dairy you can consider. But make sure to stick to organic dairy products .
The beautiful thing with the list above is most are lactose free or very low in lactose. For example, yogurt contains bacteria which eat up the lactose sugar during fermentation. Or for example, grass fed butter is an end product with minimal inherent lactose.
Also many other above are naturally low in A1 casein.
To work out what is best for you, I recommend strongly working with a registered dietitian. They are magicians at helping us pinpoint the good from the bad.
For example, with my RDN we worked out I can tolerate goats cheese or buffalo mozzarella quite well. And also, a probiotic-rich organic unflavored yogurt works wonders for me as a dessert.
But everyone is different. And I implore you to first do 30 days completely dairy free, so you can then introduce one dairy product at a time and see how your body responds to it.
IDEA #6
Nutrients That Heal Leaky Gut Syndrome
Leaky gut syndrome is extremely pervasive in our society and many people are suffering with this condition and do not know it. Do you experience symptoms including brain fog, acne, weight gain, allergies, nutrient deficiency, hormonal or mood imbalances? If the answer is yes to any of these symptoms you may benefit from 6 nutrients that heal leaky gut syndrome. In this article, I go over some of the most research proven compounds that are effective at repairing the gastrointestinal tract and help to heal leaky gut.
The modern Western diet is not only lacking in critical nutrients which promote gut health but the high amount of sugar, processed foods and alcohol consumed decreases the percentage of healthy compounds which our bodies can absorb for use. Many of the above mention symptoms are side effects of inflammation and trauma to the gut linked to autoimmune dysfunction.
In Terms Of Practically Implementing This Idea
well, it should not be too hard to do if you simply stick to the leaky gut diet above. And thats because everything in the leaky gut diet I recommend is whole food based.
The real struggle comes down to avoiding eating out too much. From grabbing lunch at your local food court to ordering Uber Eats, these time saving ideas have to be canned for now. After all, the food industry is driven by processed and preservative-packed foods.
IDEA #30
How To Improve Your Gut Health
Understanding and acceptance of leaky gut syndrome is growing. Researchers have found evidence of leaky guts existence, as well as indications that it contributes to a variety of health issues. However, the research is limited, and many doctors still do not consider leaky gut to be a legitimate medical issue. Because of the work yet to be done, there is no standard diagnosis and therefore no standard treatment. This has caused some people to explore natural or alternative medicine approaches. However, there are doctors like those at Gastroenterology Associates of Savannah, who understand the research and its limitations, but are committed to finding a solution to the symptoms you are experiencing.
There is no one proven method for completely healing the symptoms of leaky gut. But there are ways to improve gut health which is known to be good for overall health. And taking action to improve gut health may also relieve symptoms associated with leaky gut syndrome. An important first step is to make sure to address any known underlying or associated conditions.
Nutrition is another area vital to the health of your digestive system. Eat a well-balanced diet that incorporates lots of fruits and vegetables. Foods with prebiotic fiber are also important to help protect the good bacteria in your gut. What should you eat less of? Its generally good nutritional practice to consume less sugar and sweeteners, as well as less dairy, eggs, and meat.
Where I Am Today:
I feel like a newborn baby. A completely different human. I look back on who I was when my GI was at its worst before gut healing protocol, I cant even believe that was me.
I would consider my GI to be mostly normal now. I can eat many of the higher FODMAP foods I had to steer clear of, like onions, garlic, asparagus, etc. The gas is completely gone, I have regular bowel movements, and my small bouts of constipation are short-lived. My anxiety has lifted, my energy is great, and my skin glows!
My thyroid function is in the normal range.
My hormones are still whacky, but Im fine with that being a work in progress. The process of balancing them is not an anxiety-ridden concept the way healing my gut was.
Im in a healthy, loving relationship with an individual who knows my health history and cares that I remain healthy. Hes the most honest and giving person I know and I cant believe I lucked out to have him in my life.
I take it one day at a time. I try not to get stuck in the feedback loop of needing to control, needing to micromanage my health.
It has been a little less than one year since I began my gut healing protocol with Dena, and I am constantly shocked by the difference between my health today versus my health a year ago. I hope one year from now, all of this will be just that thing that happened that one time. I truly believe it will.
Love, squeezes and kitty cat sneezes.
xoxo
Suggested Treatments Range From Bogus To Dangerous
The Myth: Many solutions that leaky gut syndrome proponents recommend are based in fad diets, which declare that normal foods cause serious problems in most people. For instance, proponents of leaky gut syndrome recommend that patients avoid any foods with high sugar content , claiming that the excess sugar causes an overgrowth of a certain strain of yeast in the GI tract that is responsible for the damage to the intestinal wall. In addition, they say that sensitivities to gluten or lactose damage the intestine, and they recommend avoiding all dairy products and anything containing gluten.
Debunked: Fruit will not cause yeast to attack your intestines. While a small percentage of the population have symptoms related to gluten and lactose intake, these foods cause no problems for most individuals. Following these practitioners instructions is more likely to lead to nutritional deficiencies rather than reduced symptoms.
Another issue in this field is that many people in the popular media who support this unverified condition try to sell special products as a treatment for leaky gut syndrome. They offer unproven treatments for a condition that has no medical basis. Additionally, since many of these supplements havent been well researched, taking them could cost you a lot of money, do little to reduce your symptoms, and could even be dangerous.
How To Heal Leaky Gut Naturally
If you suspect you might have increased intestinal permeability, you have a lot of options for healing leaky gut. Some physicians prescribe drugs for the condition, including antibiotics, antidepressants, and immune system suppressors, but pharmaceuticals always come with side effects of their own and fail to address the root cause of the issue. If your gut lining isnt sealed properly, no amount of drugs is going to seal it if you continue eating, drinking, or doing something that causes it to unseal or become permeable. Thankfully, there are many lifestyle-based, side-effect-free ways to heal leaky gut naturally.
Ultimately, the course of action that works for you will depend on the underlying cause of your increased intestinal permeability. But generally, taking steps to improve your overall gut health will support a strong intestinal lining and can help heal leaky gut. To support your gut health and help heal leaky gut naturally, you can:
Will Leaky Gut Heal Itself
Although many individuals would like to believe that this problem will fix itself, the reality is that getting to the root cause of leaky gut requires testing and treatment. We like to use stool and/or urine testing to diagnose leaky gut and get to the root cause of it. If the conditions and behaviors that initially led to leaky gut do not change, then it is likely not realistic to expect leaky gut to fix itself. Not to mention, any damage done to the gut must be rectified.
Instead, concerted steps need to be undertaken to solve leaky gut syndrome.
The Best Gut Healing Diet
As you may have guessed, since leaky gut is so closely connected with what you put in your mouth, the most important element of healing leaky gut is your diet. To support a strong intestinal lining and help repair any increased permeability, you want to eat foods that promote good bacteria and fend off harmful bacteria, and avoid anything that doesnt agree with your unique body.
Everyones gut-healing diet will look slightly different, because each of us has our own distinct microbiome, but the best gut healing diet generally contains these foods and food groups:
As well as eating the gut-healing foods above, its important to avoid foods that can be damaging to your gut health. That means reducing your consumption of sugar, refined carbohydrates, processed foods, gluten, alcohol, and refined oils.
How I Cook So Simple But Healthy Every Single Day
- Breakfast is usually simply a shake. This is how I start most mornings. Its easy for the digestive system to take, helps the body rapidly absorb much needed nutrition and is so easy to make, which means youll actually do it each day. Plus I always make sure my shakes contain some good fats, eg MCT oil or coconut oil, and protein, eg , which brings about some remarkable improvements in morning energy .
- Soup and bone broth make up 20-30% of meals. Alternating between these 2 liquid meals throughout the week works a treat. You can batch make and easily freeze both, making them so convenient to take out whenever needed. And if you dont like the taste then just try a scoop of each day.
- Meat/fish + vegetable + vegetable starch . Simple combinations of the 2 paired with some nice flavors especially using herbs is just perfect. These dishes sit so easily in your stomach that they are seriously addictive!
IDEA #18
How To Cure A Leaky Gut
Grandma was on the right path when she recommended chicken soup to cure your cold. Eating certain foods and avoiding others is often the key to a cure. This is especially true when youre looking to cure leaky gut syndrome. The following tips can help you heal, and you should always start with your diet first.
How Do You Know If You Have A Leaky Gut
There are tests for leaky gut, which can be useful if you want hard evidence that you need to address your gut health. In other words, having proof that something is going on in your body might help to motivate you to make changes in your lifestyle or stick to a protocol.
For a more detailed rundown of how you can know if you have leaky gut, read our blog How do you know if you have leaky gut? Some quick answers
At Healthpath we use a PEG test to look at leaky gut. Together with your symptom survey, our Registered Nutritional Therapists and Functional Medicine Practitioners use the results to build you a personal diet, lifestyle and supplement protocol to get you great gut health.
For all you need to know about leaky gut testing, read Testing for leaky gut syndrome: the complete guide .
For most people, we recommend a deep-dive into the workings of your gut: a Gut Health Test. Some of our Gut Health Tests look at your zonulin level, which is one marker of leaky gut.
However, theres really no comparison to a stand-alone leaky gut test and a Gut Health Test, which is a fully comprehensive analysis of the goings-on of your gut. It looks at:
- Your microbiomes health: stool consistency, pH levels, microbe diversity, enterotype, and dysbiosis index.
- Bacteria, yeasts , moulds, parasites, worms, H. pylori and pathogenic bacteria.
- Advanced biomarkers: digestive function, immune system and inflammation.
Bonus elements on more advanced tests include:
And Heres How I Recommend You Tackle This Diet
- For starters, grab my free leaky gut recovery guide to see my top 7 recipes. During my times of poor gut health Ive simply rotated amongst these 7 meal ideas. Theyre easy to cook, taste amazing and require very few ingredients.
- Fish and meats are your new BFF. This is where the majority of the flavor in the leaky gut diet comes from. Take the advice below in idea #14 seriously, and try to buy high quality meat and fish as much as possible.
- Focus on green and colorful vegetables. Obviously some of you will suffer from leaky gut syndrome so badly that even many vegetables out there will irritate your gut to no end. In which case simply eat what your body responds best to.
- Some* starch is okayin vegetable form that is. Depending on how you react try to eat some starchy vegetables like sweet potato, yam, yucca etc. I find the mouthfeel and way they fill me up to be most satisfying. And they really round of dishes made with the 2 food groups above. *Keep an eye on max serving size recommendations in the image above.
- Everything else. Nuts, eggs, many nightshades , low sugar fruit etc can all have their place in your leaky gut diet too, but theyre not for everyone. And as I explain below in idea #22, some of you may really need to limit serving size significantly and test these to see if they make sense for you.
No matter how good your diet is though, I highly recommend you take 1-2 digestive enzyme capsules before each meal per point #7 above.
IDEA #8
Remove Yeast And Bad Bacteria
Candida, yeast, fungus and other bad bacteria can create havoc in the intestines. These pathogens release toxins like mycotoxins and exotoxins that disrupt the normal functioning of the gut.
They damage the mucosal lining by latching on to them, thus increasing gut permeability directly.
You can eliminate entry of these pathogens into your system by avoiding foods notorious for fungal growth. Avoid baked goods that have been made using activated yeast.
For maintaining gut health take noted antifungal remedy caprylic acid 1-2 tsp or capsules per day for one to two weeks, then add 3-4 drops of oregano oil or garlic oil a day. Stop after two weeks.
Can The Carnivore Diet Heal Leaky Gut
One of the potential causes of the leaky gut syndrome listed above is a low-fiber diet. I disagree with this view.
Leaky Gut Fix #1: Reduce Inflammation
Leaky gut syndrome is often driven by and accompanied by significant amounts of inflammation. Therefore, it is important to remove any elements from your diet that can be triggering inflammation. These trigger foods vary from person to person so a personalized approach is necessary here. We recommend working with a qualified practitioner who can help you figure out which foods and dietary choices are causing inflammation for you.
Additionally, with stool testing, individuals may find that they have certain strains of opportunistic bacteria, yeast, fungi, or parasites present. To cut inflammation, these issues must be addressed. Generally, we recommend herbs and botanicals to help eradicate these pests causing inflammation. However, this cant be overlooked as it is pinnacle in any treatment plan.
Is Leaky Gut Real
Your gut, also known as the gastrointestinal tract, includes over 4,000 square feet of intestinal epithelial lining that controls what gets into your bloodstream.
If unhealthy, this lining may be leaky with holes or cracks that allow bacteria, toxins, antigens, and partially digested food to penetrate the tissues beneath it.
That can trigger inflammation and changes in the gut flora , which could lead to problems within your digestive tract and beyond.
Although leaky gut is not recognized by mainstream medical professionals as a condition, its generally recognized as a symptom.
According to a
currently available specifically for leaky gut. The treatment recommendations youre likely to receive from your doctor will be focused on the underlying condition theyve diagnosed, which might include leaky gut as a symptom. For example:
- If youve been diagnosed withceliac disease, following a gluten-free diet may help heal your gut.
- If youve been diagnosed with IBD, anti-inflammatory drugs, immune system suppressors, antibiotics, pain relievers, and supplements such as iron, calcium, and vitamin D may help the lining of your gut to recover.
- If youve been diagnosed with IBS, anticholinergic medications, tricyclic antidepressants, SSRIs, antidepressants, antibiotics, pain relievers, or medications specifically for IBS may help reduce your symptoms.
Changes In Gut Permeabilityy Are Now Validated By Research
The existence of a leaky gut used to be controversial. That all changed with the discovery of a molecule called zonulin.
In 2000, Dr. Alessio Fasano and his team discovered zonulin, a protein our body makes that opens and closes those doors in our gut called tight junctions His research was initially done on celiac disease patients, but its significance reaches far beyond the world of celiac disease and gluten-related disorders. Zonulin has become a marker for intestinal permeability or leakiness.
As research has unfolded since 2001, we now know that a leaky gut correlates with inflammation and is seen in many other diseases such as IBS, depression, inflammatory bowel disease, and autoimmune diseases . The discovery of zonulin and the explosion of interest in gut health, leaky gut, and the microbiome are being investigated as significant, modifiable risk factors in our long-term health .
It must be noted that the topic of leaky gut is still not completely free of controversy. There is currently no universally accepted way to measure gut permeability. This means the diagnosis is made based on a persons symptoms. That is never ideal.
There are valid methods to study permeability, and commercial labs have created tests claiming to measure it. Still, in reality, the best way to measure gut permeability has not been determined.
All this being said, there is no debate that inflammation is bad, and decreasing inflammation will only be of benefit.