Leaky Gut Solutions
- Jan 3, 2022
- 3 min read
(Here is the second in a series of posts based off the information I gleaned from the Gut Immune Solution health webinar series.)
Leaky gut, otherwise known as intestinal permeability, is at the root cause of most digestive, immune, and metabolic disorders, in addition to cognitive and mood disorders. A gut becomes “leaky” or “permeable” when food, bacteria, microbes, and other particles cross the one-cell-layer thick lining of your gastrointestinal (GI) track and drop directly into the bloodstream.
How could this happen? Perhaps something irritates the tight junctions between the inside of the GI track and your bloodstream and makes tiny microscopic tears in the lining of the intestine that allows those particles to pass on through.
Your body knows those particles aren’t supposed to be floating around in the bloodstream so it fires up the immune system to fight off these invaders. This leads to chronic low-grade inflammation, which is really bad for your overall health.
Leaky gut can manifest as digestive symptoms, such as pain & cramping, loose stools, and constipation but can also present as more systemic symptoms, such as joint pain, rashes, eczema, etc. Extreme cases can show up as Multiple Sclerosis (MS), Lupus, Crohn’s, Ulcerative Colitis, Rheumatoid Arthritis and other autoimmune conditions, etc.
Causes of leaky gut: exposure to antibiotics; traveler’s diarrhea/acute gastro distress; eating the standard American diet (SAD), particularly gluten and dairy; medications like ibuprofen, birth control pills, NSAIDS, and acetaminophen; environmental toxins, and stress, believe it or not!
Chronic stress and trauma, if not dealt with, will lead to a chronic condition or disease.
Drinking alcohol every day also really damages the gut lining.
Gluten will cause some degree of leaky gut for everyone; it is just a matter of how much and for how long. Gliadin within gluten disrupts the tight junctions and causes them to separate.
But now the GOOD NEWS. You CAN HEAL leaky gut.
To reverse leaky gut, you need to work on the improving the health of your microbiome in conjunction with a licensed naturopath or functional medicine doctor. The series recommended a four step processes to CLEANSE (remove bad bugs, take away inflammatory foods); ACTIVATE (look at digestion to make sure you have the enzymes and nutrients to support the lining of the gut); RESTORE (with prebiotics, probiotics, and fermented foods); and ENHANCE (repair gut lining with nutrients such as Goldenseal, Neem, Licorice Root, Marshmallow Root, Aloe Vera, & Black Walnut Root).
CLEANSE: you have to remove the reasons why you had leaky gut to begin with so if bacterial overgrowth, food sensitivities, chronic stress, or an environmental trigger prompted the intestinal permeability, you’ll want to address those issues first. Treat any bacterial/yeast overgrowth like Candida or small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) if an issue. Remove those foods that are breaking down the lining, such as gluten and dairy, and make sure you are getting enough Vitamin A, Zinc, and protein. The immune system needs those nutrients to repair itself.
ACTIVATE: Besides nutritional supplements, you’ll also want to take L-Glutamine to help improve gut permeability and repair the intestinal lining gaps. Glutamine, the most studied and abundant amino acid in the body, is usually very safe but if your gut is very leaky you need to go slow because it can cause histamine reactions when it enters the bloodstream. Likewise, slippery elm bark, while one of the most nutritious nutrients, can make SIBO worse.
RESTORE: To restore you want to focus on good nutrition, making sure have enough Zinc, vitamin A, and protein. Your immune system needs those nutrients to repair itself. Your restoration diet should be basically foods that are soft and mushy, like really well-cooked vegetables, legumes, and grains in soups and stews as well as blended fruit in smoothies. Avoid grains as much as possible, unless you cook them very well with lots of water. Herbs can help restore as well; add a little bit of ginger, turmeric, or caraway/fennel. Think about when you have the flu, what do you feel like eating? Soups, ginger ale, ginger tea, apple sauce or cooked fruit, mushy vegetables. Eat nothing raw or al dente; you want the digestive system to do as little as possible.
ENHANCE: With input from a medical practitioner, repair the gut lining with nutrients such as Goldenseal, Neem, Licorice Root, Marshmallow Root, Aloe Vera & Black Walnut Root.
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