Do you suffer with IBD, SIBO, chronic constipation, gas and bloating, autoimmune disease, yeast overgrowth, ulcerative colitis, chrons, etc? Leaky gut is most likely one of the triggers for these conditions and many others!
The term “leaky gut” gets thrown around often, but what does it really mean? Intestinal permeability (leaky gut) is a VERY common issue among those living in our modern world and unfortunately is one of the most overlooked syndromes in the allopathic medical field.
So what exactly is it? Leaky gut occurs when the tight gap junctions in our intestines remain open and allow undigested food particles, yeast and parasites and toxins into the blood stream.
How does it remain open? There are tight gap junctions that normally only allow vitamins, minerals and amino acids from the foods we eat to enter the blood stream from the digestive tract. However, when we have chronic inflammation in our digestive tracts, these tight gap junctions remain partly open and allow undigested foodstuffs and other toxins and bad bacteria to enter our blood and travel to any part of the body via the bloodstream. Some of these toxins can even pass the blood-brain barrier and affect our brain and nervous system!
How do you develop leaky gut? Leaky gut can develop from MANY different factors. The main being a poor diet full of refined foods and carbs which destroys our microvilli, stress from our fast paced lifestyles, NSAIDS and antibiotics which destroy the beneficial bacteria in our gut and allow yeast to overgrow and cause inflammation, not chewing our food enough, and much more!
Now that you know a bit about leaky gut, what can you do to fix it? There is a 3-step approach I like to take to bring our guts back to the way they should be! RID, REPAIR, REPLACE!
Step 1: RID the gut of bad bacteria, yeast and parasites. When we take antibiotics, eat bad foods often and are stressed, yeast and other opportunistic microorganisms are able to overgrow in our guts causing inflammation and chronic illness. It is CRUCIAL to address the dysbiosis before trying to reseal the gut and rebuild the lining and microvilli.
Before starting any supplement and diet regime, please consult your doctor or healthcare practitioner to make sure you are doing it safely!
The best way to eliminate the bad bacteria and parasites is to eat a low carb diet full of fresh vegetables, small amounts of fresh fruit, some whole grains, nuts, seeds and healthy fats. Antifungals and other supplements should be taken alongside the low-carb, whole-foods diet. I recommend digestive enzymes, Black walnut and wormwood to help expel parasites, caprylic acid to help fight off candida overgrowth, amino NAC or echinacea for an anti-viral,activated charcoal or bentonite clay to soak up toxins and prevent die-off, and a greens powder to alkalize the body and remove toxins from the blood and colon. With this regime I also recommend a potent, high quality, multi-strain probiotic to replenish the good bacteria that was lost. It is 100% necessary and important to do a liver/kidney, gallbladder and lymphatic drainage protocol BEFORE starting (and during) a candida cleanse to make sure your body is ready and able to handle the toxin that will be created as candida dies-off. Herxing and die-0ff are NOT positive signs and should not happen if the cleanse is done correctly and every area of the body is supported to eliminate and detoxify toxins effectively. A candida/parasite cleanse should last 90 days (or longer for certain individuals) to make sure you get the full Lifecyle of the parasites and that the toughest yeast and bad bacteria are killed off. Once candida is cleansed and your dysbiosis has significantly improved, you can move onto the next phase!
Step 2: REPAIRing the gut lining is the next step to fixing our guts! Once candida is gone, it leaves you with a clean slate to attempt to repair the microvilli and gut lining.
The key is to make sure you keep inflammation in the digestive tract as LOW as possible but eating a grain-free (temporarily), whole foods, low sugar and easy to digest diet. I recommend the GAPS diet or a diet that is full of warming bone broth soups, vegetable and fruit smoothies, fiber, healthy fats, wild caught fish and organic lean proteins, organic greens and squash. I suggest avoiding grains, fatty meats, sweeteners (small amounts of manuka honey is ok), rough foods like nuts and seeds (unless pureed) and sugary fruits like banana. New supplementation should be taken to help rebuild the gut lining alongside the anti-inflammatory diet. Aloe vera gel, L-glutamine, bone broth, gelatin, digestive enzymes, marshmallow root, slippery elm, multi-strain probiotics, herbal teas (peppermint, dandelion, licorice root), liquid chlorophyll, cod liver oil and emulsified vitamin D. These supplements will help to detox the colon, soothe the digestive tract and rebuild the gut lining and microvilli.
Follow dosages on the bottles to ensure correct supplementation.
This step of the protocol can take anywhere from 2 to 6 months. It’s important to not rush this phase and the time it will take really depends on the degree of damage that is present. Take your time, give yourself more time than you feel you need and you will do great! After several months of this phase, it is time to move onto the last phase of the protocol, REPLACE!
Step 3: REPLACE! This phase is pretty self-explanatory, but it is all about REPLACING the good bacteria in your gut! The most important part is diet. Make sure you’re consuming organic, whole foods, LOTS of fermented foods like sauerkraut, kimchi, Kvass, kefir, etc. You may also want to consider adding in POTENT Human strain probiotics (500 billion) to flood your system with good bacteria! This protocol should last 30 days (possibly longer) and minimal sweetener should be consumed along with grains.
After these 3 phases are over, you should be able to consume foods that once triggered you and you should be able to eat “normal” again, so long as you ensure you avoid bad foods as much as possible. It takes effort to rebuild the gut lining, so don’t undo all your hard work by consuming burgers, greasy pizzas, high fructose corn syrup, food colorings etc regularly. I recommend avoiding toxic substances forever! As you go through this protocol, try to turn it into a lifestyle rather than just a fix.
You my want to consider doing a new IgG and IgA food sensitivity text along with a leaky gut test to determine how well you did on this protocol!
Saving this blog!
Your story on how you accidentally had gluten waffles and did not react at all is what inspires me to keep going! I can’t wait to completely heal! There’s a lot of great reminders in this article and suggestions like to not eat rough foods like whole nuts which I did not realize i shouldn’t be!! Thanks!