It Takes Guts To Heal: How to heal your gut naturally
When it comes to feeling better and staying healthy, both patient and practitioner cannot overlook gut health. What occurs in the entirety of the digestive system influences how you feel and how you heal.
The “gut” refers to the whole gastrointestinal tract from one end to the other. Made up of trillions of microbes, the microbiome is headquartered here. The gut is also where 70-80% of your immune resides, it produces a large amount of our brain chemistry and impacts every one of our bodily systems.
It takes guts to heal! There's just about no way around it. If your digestion is off, your healing is off. Your structural adjustments won't hold, your hormones won't balance, it compromises the immune system, inflammation will rage on, and so on.
What do gut issues look like?
Since the gut affects so many areas of health, you may not always notice “typical” gut symptoms.
Gut imbalances may manifest as:
Autoimmune Conditions
Chronic Fatigue
Poor Immune Health
Mental Health Disorders
Systemic Inflammation
Heart Disease
Type II Diabetes
Skin Conditions
Weight Gain
Acid Reflux or GERD
Cancer
Asthma or Chronic Sinus Infections
Constipation or Diarrhea
Types of gut issues
Not all gut issues are the same. You may hear the labels such as “leaky gut” and “dysbiosis” used interchangeably. However, there are different conditions and what goes on person to person varies. Here are the main types of gut issues.
1. Leaky gut
Unhealthy food choices, food sensitivities, stress, and toxins cause damage to the intestinal lining. Our intestinal lining plays a sort of “red rover, red rover” game with toxins and nutrients. Meaning, this barrier, when intact, allows the friendly nutrients in and keeps the toxins out. When the lining is damaged and “leaky”, undigested food particles and bacterial endotoxins (namely lipopolysaccharides) pass from the intestinal tract and into our body. The immune system senses the invaders and stimulates a response that cascades into systemic inflammation. When this process becomes chronic, conditions such as autoimmunity, arthritis, allergies, and chronic pain arise.
2. Bacterial imbalances
A precise balance of microbial species thrives in optimal conditions in the gut. Each one has their role for each other and us. Even the pathogenic, or problematic, ones. As the conditions decline, the microbial roles change as well. They adapt to try to help us out but with this compensation, the rub is dis-ease and disease comes about. This is called dysbiosis and creates conditions such as SIBO and H. pylori infections. With dysbiosis, beneficial bacterial populations decrease, and research shows connections to irritable bowel disease, anxiety, depression, weight gain, and hormonal imbalances.
Have you ever switched up your diet and increased your veggie intake only to meet with worse bowel issues or bloat? Often the veggies are the ones to receive the blame. The real cause of this is an underlying microbial issue, not the food itself. While a healthy diet is a must for a healthy gut, an effective strategy may need to prioritize dealing with bacterial imbalances before the body can tolerate increased vegetable intake.
Whenever the topic of bacteria and microbes comes up, it is a good reminder that they have a symbiotic role. According to terrain theory, bacteria are not the source of disease. Bacteria are simply doing the best they can to support us given the environment they live in. The better the environment, the better they can perform their role in maintaining our health. Therefore, killing the “bad” bacteria in our gut (even with natural remedies) doesn’t get to the root cause.
3. Allergies, sensitivities, and intolerances
Histamine intolerance and MCAS (mast cell activation syndrome) are commonly seen alongside cases of leaky gut and bacterial overgrowth. Histamine is a necessary chemical needed for numerous functions such as inflammation, immune function, stomach acid production, emotions, heart rate, and sleep. Mast cells are a specialized part of the immune system and serve as a “guard to the castle”. With histamine intolerance, the body can’t effectively break down histamine. With mast cell activation syndrome, the mast cells are overstimulated (by foods, toxins, infection) leading to the “guards” no longer being able to tell friends from foe. Both cause a long list of similar symptoms as a result. In terms of gut issues, this may look like heartburn, acid reflux, abdominal pain after eating, anxiety, fatigue, headaches, hives, or asthma.
4. Yeast overgrowth and parasites
The optimal gut environment has some level of candida (yeast) and parasites present. Yeast overgrowth and parasitic infections don’t always come from travel, raw foods, or our pets. Like a gremlin fed after midnight, both will turn into something less than desirable when we take in too many carbs, sugars, or alcohol. Candida and parasites also play a symbiotic role as well. Both can help act as a sink to hold on to toxins to offset the burden on our own cells and tissues. In other words, your body will allow parasites and candida to grow in your gut to prevent dangerous heavy metals and environmental toxins from entering the bloodstream.
Here are some easy ways to initiate gut healing:
1. Sense the moment: 30% of stomach acid is released as you prepare a meal. While you cook, observe your food, take in the aromas, and allow the anticipation to help prime your gut for digestion.
2. Chew the fat…and everything else: Chewing your food 20-30 times per bite makes life so much easier for the rest of your digestive organs. Stressed, quick chewing leads to less effective digestion and absorption.
3. Fiber up: Most of us don't get enough fiber. Aiming for 20-30 grams of fiber per day from nuts, seeds, avocados, berries, and veggies makes a massive difference.
4. How’s your “pre” game? Prebiotics (such as asparagus, apples, garlic, and onions) are foods that feed your gut bacteria. Like any other organism, the better fed they are the better they work for us.
5. "Mother" knows best: Taking apple cider vinegar (with the "mother") after a meal supports proper stomach function and has a host of other health benefits. It also helps “activate” prebiotic foods.
6. Fermented for the win: Fermented foods (i.e., sauerkraut, coconut kefir, kimchi) offer a good source of probiotics as well as improve digestion and increase the bioavailability of nutrients.
7. Food is more than medicine: Yes, good foods are full of vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients. But food is meant for sharing, gathering around, praying over, and something to be grateful for.
Of course, not all will have the same needs for gut healing. Many cases require additional food plans, supplements, herbs, or homeopathy to add leverage to the healing process (i.e., to reduce harmful bacteria, replace necessary enzymes, or rebalance the microbes). It is important to know dietary needs may change depending on the season of life you are in or the stage of healing you are going through. Not everyone requires the same ratio of grams of protein per kilogram of body weight. A high-fat diet, keto-style may be the very thing that turns around one life and yet, causes another life to get measurably worse.
Many gut healing protocols, kits, and programs are out there. Some helpful, others pray on your emotions through slick marketing. However, a one-size-fits-all approach will either miss something or not take you all the way.
Working with a functional medicine practitioner can help you test, evaluate, and strategize together on a plan fit for you. To partner with a practitioner who will heal your gut naturally by incorporating it into a whole-body approach, contact Cornerstone Wellness.
The information on this website has not been evaluated by the Food & Drug Administration or any other medical body. We do not aim to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any illness or disease. Information is shared for educational purposes only. You must consult your doctor before acting on any content on this website, especially if you are pregnant, nursing, taking medication, or have a medical condition.