The Role Of Leaky Gut In Overall Health Remains Unclear
Leaky gut could be the cause of some health problems, or a sign of something larger, says Dr. Fasano. The science is still up in the air. For example, digestive conditions like inflammatory bowel disease, celiac disease, and Crohns disease share many of the same symptoms as leaky gut, and all are linked with chronic inflammation, but its not known how, or if, they are connected.
The challenge is that its difficult to measure the strength of a persons gut barrier, so you cant know for certain when leaky gut is really present, or what influence it may have elsewhere in the body, says Dr. Fasano.
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
Debunking The Myth Of Leaky Gut Syndrome
A proposed gastrointestinal disorder dubbed leaky gut syndrome is currently the topic of numerous debates throughout the medical and natural health communities. Some alternative medicine practitioners claim that leaky gut syndrome is a prevalent problem responsible for ill health in many people. However, most physicians maintain that there is not enough research to prove that it is a legitimate issue. In this article, we will answer some questions you may have about leaky gut syndrome and reveal some of the dangers of diagnosing and treating a condition for which there is no medical evidence.
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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 Reintroduce Foods The Smart Way
- Order of foods Start with the least potentially reactive foods, eg in week 1 maybe start by adding some soaked and pressure cooked legumes back into your diet.
- Time for each food Wait 2-3 days after eating a new food, until you reintroduce the next food. Thats important, because some foods can take a day or two for any ill effects to be felt. So this means you will typically add just 2 foods back into your diet each week.
- Track with a diary Use a food diary to keep track of what foods youve added back in and how youve felt the hour after eating it, the next day and the day after. ie a food and symptoms tracking journal.
- Review with a health professional Once youve reintroduced everything, take your journal to your doctor or other health professional, and work out which foods can be permanently allowed back into your diet, which ones can be allowed now and then and which ones really shouldnt ever be a part of your diet.
IDEA #37
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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 diet87 (that now sees us typically consuming 20:1 omega 6s to 3s, when historically we consumed 1:1 or 2:1!
By contrast extra virgin olive oil88 and coconut oil which are non-industrial vegetable oils deliver much more balanced omega fatty acid profiles.
Most industrial vegetable oils are also susceptible to oxidation when cooked and typically GMO based.
Related Conditions To Leaky Gut To Watch Out For
IDEA #27
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Leaky Gut Diet Foods To Avoid
What foods should you avoid if you have leaky gut syndrome? Its essential to avoid or greatly limit allergens and inflammatory foods when following a leaky gut diet.
Foods/ingredients to avoid include:
- Unsprouted grains, especially those containing gluten note that sprouting and fermenting grains reduces phytates and lectins, making these foods easier to digest
- Processed foods made with added sugar
- GMOs foods
- Refined oils
- Processed foods made with synthetic food additives
- Conventional dairy products
- Heavy alcohol use
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 fermentation25. 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
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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.
I Dont Want To Sound Like Some Kind Of Crazy New Age Hippy But Heres My Sincere Advice
Unlike a lot of the other ideas in this article, I genuinely believe this should be a permanent lifestyle change.
For example, whilst alcohol is something your gut can most likely take in moderation when youre back to good health, I really dont think gluten is for most of us.
Of course, everyone is different and you will find out pretty soon if you reintroduce it into your diet after 30-90 days.
I will note that currently I do consume some gluten. But it is usually as trace/small amounts. For example, occasionally I might eat some oats for breakfast that are not certified gluten free.
P.S. if you find it hard to ditch these types of foods completely, fear not. As there are some fantastic recipes to make a lot of these foods gut-friendly.
For example, checkout my gut-friendly, gluten-free pancakes recipe. Foodgasm incoming!
IDEA #2
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Consider A Megadose Of L
First of all, its worth explaining that L-Glutamine is just an amino acid . And in fact, it is the most abundant amino acid naturally found in our blood!14
But heres the cool thing about it
you see, just like protein powder feeds your muscles so they can repair and grow stronger, L-Glutamine can fuel your gut lining15 so it too can repair damaged cells and come back healthier.
The Link Between Gut Health And Intestinal Flora
If you have a bacterial overgrowth or gut infections, you may need a stronger approach than diet alone. Using probiotic supplements can both help repair the gut lining and rebalance an overgrowth.
Choosing the right probiotics for leaky gut is as simple as picking one from each of the three types:
Category 1: Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium Blends, such as Lactobacillus acidophilus.
Category 2: Saccharomyces boulardii
Category 3: Soil-Based Blends, usually Bacillus species
Using one type is good, but using all three together is often best for maximum benefit.
How we can help heal a leaky gut
Through testing and a thorough analysis of your gut microbiome and your diet and lifestyle is required to assess what is happening on the inside. Our Functional Medicine practitioners at Advanced Functional Medicine can identify what you need to restore your gut health. With the right support, your digestive issues and food sensitivities should disappear, supporting you to enjoy life without symptoms.
Jarrod Cooper ND
Jarrod Cooper – ND is the founder of Advanced Functional Medicine Australia. He is a Naturopathic Doctor with extensive functional medicine training from leading practitioners in the USA and worldwide.
He is leading the way with advancements of functional medicine, clinically implementing worldwide best practices in Functional Medicine throughout Australia.
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What To Look For When Purchasing Colostrum Supplements
Look for a colostrum powder that is truly from the first 6-hours after a calf is birthed. Many other companies use transitional milk in their colostrum powders. Transitional milk contains far fewer nutrients and healthy fats when compared to true colostrum. Immune Tree Colostrum is the only supplement that has been verified to be 6-hour colostrum.
Gut Healing Supplementation & Support
38. Work with a doctor
Working one on one with someone to customize your protocol is invaluable and irreplaceable. Theres always a lot you can do with just diet and lifestyle to improve your general wellness and quality of life, but when it comes to legitimately healing your body, you need a doctor. There is no way around this. Heres a blog post on finding a good doctor.
39. Get some legit functional testing done
Test dont guess! If you think you may have SIBO, get a breath test. If you think you have dysbiosis, get a stool test. Dont just blindly follow protocols get answers to effectively execute.
40. Consider digestive supplement support
This is something to work with your doctor to ensure that its the right supplement protocol for you, but there is zero shame in digestive support.
41. Make sure your mineral status is balanced
We need to have sufficient levels of zinc in our body to properly heal from wounds. A damaged gut lining is just like a wound. If were zinc deficient, we cant properly heal. This is another great thing to work on with a doctor.
42. Bring in support like collagen
43. Take a great probiotic
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Most of us just tend to eat on the run. We want to focus on the day to day tasks, and while it seems great at first, the reality is that there are lots of challenges to overcome here.
Our body is always stressed as we mentioned above and if you try healing your gut naturally with supplements, you will see that changing your lifestyle is the right approach here. Try to focus on that, do all you can to stop these problems, and the experience will be an extraordinary one in the end.
Our body is always stressed as we mentioned above and if you try healing your gut naturally with supplements, you will see that changing your lifestyle is the right approach here. Try to focus on that, do all you can to stop these problems, and the experience will be an extraordinary one in the end.
As you can see, there are many methods you can use to heal your gut. The reality is that you dont have to opt for intense or complex medical treatment. Many times, the best way to start healing your gut naturally is to change your lifestyle.
The Obvious question is how long does it take to heal leaky gut? My take is it may take a bit of time before you can heal your gut, but the value is there, which is a healthy gut and thats exactly what you want to get.
Remember, removing stress from your life, eating properly and starting a good sleep schedule will indeed be helpful. Try to focus on your well-being and remove the underlying causes of leaky gut.
If A Functional Doctor Diagnoses It Also Fight Other Conditions Related To Leaky Gut
Very few people just suffer from leaky gut.
Thats because intestinal hyperpermeability often causes further conditions or is caused or exacerbated/maintained by other conditions 105.
So you should be working very carefully with your doctor, or other health professional, to hunt out related conditions and then fight them head on as well.
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Avoid All Grains And Legumes For The Next Month
Life without any grains or legumes whatsoever can be tough. Whenever you plan a meal that is just meat/fish and vegetables it can feel like something is missing.
But if youre suffering from leaky gut and are really motivated to repair it fast, then leaving grains and legumes off the table, at least temporarily, is a no brainer. Especially GMO grains, which by design are the highest in anti-nutrients like lectins7,8.
Now, I will say, most grains & legumes dont quite irritate the gut lining as bad as those with gluten , but they are still loaded with anti-nutrients like lectins and phytates9,10, which your digestive system simply cant necessarily handle when it is in already poor shape.
Heres A Chart Of The Most Popular Foods That Contain Wheat:
Youll hopefully join me in a moment of sadness as we see some of the all time tastiest foods included above, like bread, cereal, pasta, pizza, cookies, crackers, cakes, muffins, beer etc.
If you are Celiac or otherwise significantly gluten intolerant , you should also try to avoid wheat-derivative products like couscous, durum, semolina etc and products containing trace amounts of gluten especially hidden as fillers, eg sauces, soups etc.
Dr Perlmutter has an extensive list of foods that contain gluten, including in small amounts.
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Create A Diet You Can Follow:
You should create a healthy diet based on the recommended foods while staying away from the kinds of foods you need to avoid. Start by creating a healthy menu with the sole purpose of improving your digestive health. Your diet should focus on incorporating the kinds of food that support the growth of healthy gut bacteria while getting rid of foods that are notorious for triggering uncomfortable digestive symptoms.
A healthy gut diet should be rich in vegetables, fruits, and lean protein, as they are a great source of healthy gut bacteria. It is also essential to ensure that your diet is always gluten-free while adjusting or making modifications to accommodate particular food allergies, special dietary needs, and other underlying conditions. Some of the changes you make to your diet may only be temporary, aimed at addressing increased nutritional needs, for example, during pregnancy or allowing your body to heal after a surgery or illness. However, if you need to make drastic long-term changes to your diet, it is important to first speak with your doctor or nutritionist. Doing this will help ensure that your diet does not end up depriving your body of certain essential nutrients it needs. Your leaky gut diet can be very nutritious and satisfying as long as it is not too restrictive. If you end up cutting out entire food groups from your diet, you may find your body deficient in essential nutrients as well as motivation.