Should you feel better than you do?
February 17, 2016
Bloating,gas,cramps,aches and pains,food sensitivities? sound familiar... You could be suffering with a leaky gut
The gut is the biggest immune system organ and is the first mechanism of defense
Leaky gut syndrome is caused when the tight junctions in the gut, which controls what passes through the lining of the small intestine, don't work properly and lets substances leak into the blood stream.
The first reaction from the body is to fight like hell, your liver is called into action to work overtime and to screen out all the particles that the intestinal lining was supposed to deal with. In most cases the liver can't keep up with the flow of waste and the toxins,pathogens, undigested food molecules accumulate in the body.
Foreign bodies absorb into the tissues causing inflammation.
How Do I Know if I Have Leaky Gut Syndrome?
Symptoms of Leaky Gut can vary from person to person depending on the level of damage and the tissues being affected. Multiple Food Sensitivities can be a sign that your immune system is developing antibodies to everything you’re eating. Nutritional deficiencies are a sign of lacking vitamins and minerals from the improper breakdown of food in your intestines. Chronic diarrhea and constipation are signs of inflammation of the intestinal walls from Leaky Gut. Skin rashes are your body’s way of trying to dump the toxins through the skin perforations. A poor immune system will result from your body trying to wage war on itself and ignoring all the virus and bacteria we encounter on a daily basis, allowing you to get sick more often. Headaches, brain fog, memory loss, and excessive fatigue are a result of the inflammation of tissue and toxin build up. Yeast overgrowth (Candida) will cause cravings for sugar and carbs, gas, bloating, and anxiety. All of these things add up to a host of symptoms with a myriad of explanations… all leading back to one thing: the constant river of foreign objects being allowed to enter your bloodstream.
What Causes Leaky Gut?
The cause of Leaky Gut is widely debated in the medical community. However, there is some level of consensus that the following are the basic contributors:
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Diet: Consuming high amounts of refined sugars, processed foods, preservatives, refined flours, and flavorings introduces massive amounts of chemicals into the body that is seen as toxic. If your body has a hard time keeping up the toxins start to build up and cause inflammation (like we talked about earlier).
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Chronic Stress: Chronic stress almost always results in a suppressed immune system. A weakened immune system cannot handle doing it’s normal job and gets overrun with pathogens very quickly. This increases overall gut inflammation leading to increased permeability of the intestinal lining.
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Inflammation: Any type of inflammation in the gut can lead to leaky gut. This can be brought on by low stomach acid (which passes undigested food into the small intestine irritating everything it passes by), yeast overgrowth (Candida), bacteria overgrowth, infection, parasites and excessive environmental toxins.
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Medications: Any medication prescriptions or even over-the-counter pain relievers with Aspirin or Acetaminophen irritate the intestinal lining and decrease the mucosal levels (a membrane produces mucus on the intestinal lining as a natural protective measure). This can start or help to continue the inflammation cycle (more bacteria, yeast, and digestion issues) and promotes an increase in permeability.
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Yeast: Yeast is found in normal gut flora but as soon as it begins to get out of hand it mutates into a multi-celled fungus (usually Candida) that grows tentacles to grab onto the intestinal lining and stay put, consequently making its own holes in the lining.
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Lack of Zinc: Zinc is a critical piece of maintaining a strong intestinal lining. A deficiency of the vitamin can lead to the mucosal lining losing strength and becoming more permeable. There are studies that show that supplementing with Zinc when it is deficient can dramatically improve intestinal lining integrity.
Supplements that help Leaky Gut Syndrome
Take digestive enzymes. The villi and microvilli projections are covered with digestive enzymes that your body needs to break food into component parts: carbs, fats, and proteins. In a leaky gut, enzyme support is crucial to healing and rebuilding villi.
Taking supplemental enzymes before you eat gives the GI tract a jump-start on digestion, making food easier to break down and nutrients easier to assimilate. Take one or two capsules with meals three times a day or as needed.
In most cases, the villi rebound over the course of a few weeks, but it may take well over a month. Only a small percentage of people will require lifetime enzymatic support
Supplement with glutamine. The most plentiful free amino acid in the body, glutamine supports immunity and digestion by fueling the cells that line the small intestine. “Glutamine heals the intestinal lining more than any other nutrient,” says Lipski. She recommends taking 10 to 20 grams daily.
Get more omega-3 fatty acids. The gut uses them to calm inflammation and rebuild healthy cell walls. In animal studies, adding essential fatty acids improved the tight junctions between the gut lining’s cells and enabled the gut to fend off additional injury.
Once your body has patched up the leaks in the gut, you need to help it grow a healthy layer of good bacteria — flora that help protect the GI tract and assist with digestion. These beneficial bacteria strengthen your immune system, improve metabolism, help your body make vitamins, and aid in the absorption of minerals. The two most important groups are lactobacilli and bifidobacteria.
Add a probiotic. High-intensity probiotic support rejuvenates and replenishes a microbiome damaged by antibiotics or a poor diet. Sult recommends a high-potency probiotic of at least 50 billion active cultures twice daily. choose one that is enteric-coated, meaning it will ferry the bacteria through the stomach’s acid and release them into the alkaline intestines.
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References:
scdlifestyle.com (leaky gut syndrome in plain english)
experiencelife.com (how to heal a leaky gut)
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