Hippocrates, the father of Western Medicine, knew how important our digestive tract was to our health. So it's hard not to marvel at the lack of attention and importance that our digestive tract has been given by Western physicians until recent years.
According to Food Matters: 75-80% of our immune system resides in our gut—wow! So why do we care and what does that mean? We need to care if we want our health to improve. If our gut is in dysbiosis (microbial imbalance) then our digestive tract cannot properly break down the foods we eat and in fact this imbalance causes microbes to leak out of the gut and into our bloodstream. Because these microbes don’t belong outside our gut, they cause our bodies to produce an immune response to attack them. This is the definition of leaky gut. Leaky gut leads to disease(s) such as diabetes, Hashimoto's and more. Our modern lifestyle choices and diet contributes to bacterial imbalances in our gut.
Signs of leaky gut are: GI disorders (what I call "a sad belly"), hormonal imbalances, autoimmune disease, chronic fatigue, mood disorders, skin issues (think acne, eczema, etc.), candida overgrowth, and many food intolerances. So, what's the root cause of this issue?
“All disease begins in the gut.”
Here are six reasons that help us understand the root of why you may causing your body to have a leaky gut:
- Antibiotics, birth control, NSAIDS (non-steroidal anti-inflammatories)
- Diet high in carbohydrates, sugar and processed foods
- Diets low in fermentable fibers
- Dietary toxins such as wheat
- Chronic stress
- Chronic infection
If you read through the signs and underlying causes and think this may be your issue—don't stress. More often than not the leaky gut and disease caused from it are repairable. First, you'll need to identify foods that may be causing the issue by elimination. Next, you add them back into your diet to evaluate if they are the issue and finally, you rebuild your gut flora. If this all sounds too overwhelming and you feel like you'd like someone to help you navigate restoring your health by having a happy belly simply reach out to me for a free consultation.
By improving our diet and lifestyle choices we can correct our gut health, prevent disease and even reverse the disease process.