8 Fantastic Foods to Heal Your Leaky Gut

 

Click HERE to Discover these 80 Keto-Friendly and Healthy Slow Cooker Recipes

If you’re struggling with chronic digestive problems, autoimmune disease, or chronic inflammation, then it is very likely your gut is damaged. All disease begins in the gut and spreads to other areas of the body.

So, whether you’re suffering from chronic headaches, skin conditions, depression, joint pain, or digestive issues, you must first put out the fire in your gut.

The good news is that you can start doing this immediately with the foods you eat. You might be thinking that I’m going to talk about bone broth, but I’m going to provide some other options for you.

Adding anti-inflammatory foods is the first step towards improving your digestion.

It’s critical that you remove the inflammatory foods such as grains, sugar, dairy, and processed foods and instead focus on consuming healing, anti-inflammatory foods.

If you’re following a Paleo diet, I imagine you’ve taken many of these inflammatory foods out. However, there are some specific Paleo-friendly foods that you can focus on consuming on a regular basis to promote healing.

Below are just a few foods that can aid greatly in reducing inflammation, soothing your digestive system, and healing your gut.

Animal Protein

Animal protein, preferably organic, grass-fed, pasture-raised or wild-caught, is extremely healing to the gut. It’s a fantastic source for dietary amino acids such as glutamine, glutamate, and arginine, which optimize the immune functions of the intestine. It also promotes acid production in the stomach, which is critical for healthy digestion.

Lemon

Bitter, astringent foods like lemon are great for stimulating bile production, which aids in digestion. Lemon also helps to detoxify the body. Try drinking a glass of warm water with lemon first thing in the morning.

Pineapple

Pineapple is an excellent source of the proteolytic enzyme bromelain. Bromelain supports digestion by breaking down and digesting protein. Pineapple helps your body break down protein, making digestion easier.

Coconut

Coconut is a true superfood and has so many health benefits. One important characteristic is that it has antibacterial and anti-fungal properties. Coconut can really support gut healing by fighting potential pathogens. Try cooking with coconut oil, adding it to your smoothies, or eating a tablespoon by itself.

Turmeric

Turmeric is a powerful, anti-inflammatory food. Its health benefits are numerous. Adding turmeric to your food or taking it in capsule form can help reduce the inflammation in your gut and promote healing.

Aromatic Herbs

Aromatic herbs like oregano, ginger, cloves and rosemary are great for digestive health because they possess antibacterial properties. Cooking with these delicious herbs not only provides flavor to your meals, but helps heal and protect your gut too.

Fermented Foods

Fermented foods are great for gut health because they are a fantastic source of good bacteria, or probiotics. Probiotics are known to support the immune system and promote motility in the GI tract. Examples of fermented foods are apple cider vinegar, kefir (coconut, dairy, or water versions), yogurt, kimchi, and sauerkraut.

Prebiotics

Prebiotics are food for the good bacteria in your body. Supporting and feeding your good bacteria is essential for gut health.

Examples of foods rich in prebiotics are sweet potatoes, winter squash, pumpkin, cantaloupe, honeydew, honey, zucchini, and artichokes. Eat lots of sweet potatoes and zucchini to get your dose of healthy prebiotics.

NOTE: if you suffer from SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth) prebiotics might worsen symptoms.

Now that you have an extensive list of gut-healing foods, try incorporating these options on a consistent basis. For me, I’ve found it to be pretty easy to get most of these foods into my diet on a regular basis.

For example, I cook with coconut oil. I consume clean animal protein daily. I use ACV to make my salad dressing. I eat winter squash or sweet potatoes almost daily. I use different herbs and lemon to flavor my food.

Give it a try! Your gut will thank you for it.

Watch this video – HOW TO HEAL YOUR GUT ON A VEGAN DIET | best probiotic foods to heal your leaky gut

Written by Jen Broyles

Author Bio:

Jen Broyles is a Certified Integrative Nutrition Health Coach and is on a mission to help people regain their health naturally, specifically in the area of digestive wellness. Her personal story is what inspired her to educate and guide others. She dealt with chronic digestive issues for over 10 years, and it was significantly affecting her quality of life. She returned to school to study nutrition, started doing her own research, and trained with functional medicine practitioners.

She now helps clients restore their health naturally through diet and lifestyle changes and necessary diagnostic testing to uncover the root cause. She is a firm believer in the role that real food, a balanced lifestyle, and a positive attitude plays on overall health.

You can visit her website and blog for FREE digestive wellness tips, recipes, and healthy living advice. Jen offers private health coaching to individuals who are struggling with chronic digestive problems as well as an exclusive online program designed to Heal Your Digestion.

A lot of people have gotten results from the Keto diet, and enjoyed the foods that it has to offer. However, many of the people who are following this diet have a hard time finding the recipes that they need, especially ones that are quick and easy to complete.

Fortunately, Kelsey Ale, noticed this problem, and decided to do something about it. She’s found that making recipes in a slow cooker gives you meals which are not only delicious, but also take very little time to make. Mostly you just put a few simple ingredients in the slow cooker, and let it do the rest.

To find out more, click on – Keto Slow Cooker Cookbook

Gut Thyroid Connection – Does Gut Health Affect Thyroid?

 

Click HERE to Discover these 80 Keto-Friendly and Healthy Slow Cooker Recipes

Your Thyroid-Gut Connection

You might think of thyroid issues and stomach complications as independent problems. But have you considered the actual close connection between gut health and your thyroid?

It’s not intuitive to consider that your digestive system and your thyroid gland are intimately connected, and that the function of one feeds back on the function of the other. But the thyroid-gut connection runs deeper than you may expect.

Rather than a set of linear, isolated systems acting independently of one another, the body is an interconnected web. When one strand of the web is pulled, reverberations are created throughout the body. Hioppocrates was correct when he said “all disease begins in the gut.”

Hippocrates said “all disease begins in the gut.” Indeed, gut health is foundational for the health and well-being of the rest of the body and its systems, including the hormonal system.

Your digestive system is not only the avenue through which you absorb nutrition, the gut: plays roles in the cycling, activation and recycling of hormones; is one of the Big 5 organs of detoxification; houses the immune system and is a key player in defense; holds the microbiome, the colony of beneficial bacteria that does innumerable functions for us; and even impacts our mood.

When discussing the gut thyroid connection, things get interesting.

The Rise of Autoimmune Thyroid Disease and the Gut

One of the most important things to know about thyroid function and the gut is that autoimmune thyroid disease— Hashimoto’s and Graves’ disease—is strongly driven, created and exacerbated through gastrointestinal dysfunction.

Autoimmune activity arises from unchecked intestinal irritation, leading to increased permeability and a provocation of the immune system. The end game is loss of the immune system’s ability to tolerate food particles, friendly bacteria and your own human cells.

In a process known as molecular mimicry, the switch is flipped—your immune system makes antibodies against your thyroid cells and autoimmune thyroid disease manifests. Treatment of autoimmune thyroid disease (and any autoimmune dysfunction) begins in the gut.

Thyroid Hormones Protect the Small Intestine

The lining of the small intestine is the interface between the immune system, the foods that you eat, and everything else that comes through the digestive system. Appropriate integrity is key for a balanced, non-reactive immune system.

Thyroid hormones T3 and T4 help maintain the integrity of the lining by ensuring that the desmosomes (the button-like structures that keep the cells that line the small intestine) intact.

When desmosomes become unbuttoned, the immune system can become inappropriately provoked and set the stage for leaky gut and autoimmunity. Your thyroid hormones are responsible for keeping the small intestine intact.

Thyroid Hormones Hone and Mature the Immune System

The vast majority of the immune system is found within the digestive system—about two thirds to three quarters of it. It is primarily found in specialized tissue called GALT (gut associated lymphoid tissue) and MALT (mucosa associated lymphoid tissue).

Two hormones—TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) and TRH (thyrotropin releasing hormone)—help with the building up and fortification of excellent immune function.

The levels for great function are on a bell curve—you want neither too much nor too little, but just right amounts. This is partly why those with abnormal numbers of TSH can have immune issues.

Thyroid Hormones Help Keep the Immune System Balanced

There are many different types of immune cells in the body, all of which have a variety of different functions and jobs. One in particular, called an IEL (intraepithelial lymphocyte), is one that is on a rather short, reactive leash. When activated, IELs rapidly create inflammation in the gut.

Inflammation, left unchecked, increases the permeability of the small intestine and can thus contribute to the development of autoimmune disease.

T4 helps blunt IEL activation, which confers an overall anti-inflammatory effect on the gut and immune system. Certain immune cells create gut inflammation, which can lead to leaky gut syndrome.

Thyroid Hormone Activation and Your Gut Flora

There are 2 main thyroid hormones, T3 and T4, both of which have metabolic activity and function. Thyroid hormones help set the pace for your metabolism and the rate at which you burn fuel for specific activities. Those with low thyroid hormones burn much less fuel at a slower pace, often resulting in weight gain.

T3 is more metabolically active than T4, has a shorter half-life than T4, and is found at lower levels in the body than T4. It also has to be converted from T4 to do its thing, continuously. This conversion happens at multiple sites in the body.

The action of your microbiome—the one-trillion-to-hundred-trillion-cell strong colony of beneficial bacteria that resides in your gut—converts a whopping 20% of thyroid hormone into active form.

Thyroid Function and Dysbiosis

Since your healthy, good bacteria do a lot of converting of thyroid hormone into its active form, an imbalance in the microbiome can slow it down. An imbalance in the ratio of good bacteria to bad or less-than-good bacteria, frank infection with pathogenic bacteria, yeast or parasites, and small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) are all forms of dysbiosis and can slow down conversion big time.

Many people with dysbiosis and dysbiotic conditions, including IBS, IBD, Celiac disease and SIBO, have low thyroid symptoms, but their lab numbers tend to look “perfect.” This is a direct consequence of the reduced functional power of the microbiome. An imbalance in your gut bacteria can be the cause of IBS and Celiac disease.

Even more disconcerting, a dysbiotic microbiome releases a lot of LPS. LPS (lipopolysaccharides) are compounds found within the walls of bacterial bad guys. As these guys die and replace themselves, LPS is released.

LPS has been shown to blunt thyroid function by impairing thyroid hormone receptor sites. LPS is also provocative to the immune system and stimulates the release of the inflammatory molecules and immune cells that are responsible for autoimmune activity.

Thyroid Hormone Activity is Depressed from Inflammation

Increased inflammation, from elevated LPS and dysbiosis in general, over time and unmanaged, will increase cortisol. High levels of cortisol, over time, increase TSH and depress levels of T3, the active thyroid hormone. This confers a pseudo hypothyroid state on the body.

Folks who need ever-increasing amounts of medication or who do not respond well to medication would be prudent to have their salivary cortisol checked throughout the day (an adrenal stress index/ASI test).

Thyroid Function and Constipation

The large intestine is one of the Big Five organs of detoxification, in addition to the skin, lungs, kidneys and liver. The hormone estrogen is cleared from the body through the large intestine—you poop it out.

When you are constipated, you don’t poop out as much estrogen. Your hormonal clearance is compromised, which leads to increased hormones circulating in your blood.

Estrogen elevates a protein called thyroid binding globulin (TBG). TBG grabs up thyroid hormone, rendering it useless to the body. Not what you want!

Constipation and slow transit time promote dysbiosis, which reduces thyroid hormone conversion and leads to less active thyroid hormone being produced, as well as lower thyroid function.

Lower thyroid function, in turn, slows down bile flow; ironically, it is bile that is used by the body to bind estrogen before it is sent to the large intestine to be pooped out.

Constipation and thyroid dysfunction often go hand in hand in a self-perpetuating cycle that impacts many other organs and systems of your body.

The push and pull of thyroid and digestive system function and dysfunction can be greatly improved through taking care of the many aspects that promote gut health and supporting thyroid function.

Those with thyroid disease or symptoms would do well to embrace gut health and restoration, for this is a pivotal step towards feeling better.

Watch this video – Gut Thyroid Connection

Written by Jillion Sarno, Teta, ND

Author Bio:

Jillian Sarno Teta, ND, is the author of the best-selling book Natural Solutions for Digestive Health and the creator of Fix Your Digestion. Internationally recognized for her work in digestive health and wellness, Jillian writes, speaks and blogs extensively on the subject, traveling near and far.

A lot of people have gotten results from the Keto diet, and enjoyed the foods that it has to offer. However, many of the people who are following this diet have a hard time finding the recipes that they need, especially ones that are quick and easy to complete.

Fortunately, Kelsey Ale, noticed this problem, and decided to do something about it. She’s found that making recipes in a slow cooker gives you meals which are not only delicious, but also take very little time to make. Mostly you just put a few simple ingredients in the slow cooker, and let it do the rest.

To find out more, click on – Keto Slow Cooker Cookbook

4 Simple Steps to Fix Your Gut Bacteria Imbalance

 

Click HERE to Discover these 80 Keto-Friendly and Healthy Slow Cooker Recipes

7 Signs Your Gut Bacteria Are Out of Whack

The bacteria in your gut can be one of your strongest allies in getting healthy… or it can be one of your worst enemies. Most people don’t realize it, but what they eat and how they live are changing the makeup of their gut bacteria.

Exciting new studies are coming out every day exploring the connection between gut bacteria and practically every other aspect of human health. The conclusion is clear: if you can change your gut, you can change your life.

But how do you know when something’s wrong with your gut bacteria in the first place? And more importantly, what can you do about it? Keep reading to find out.

Not All Gut Bacteria Are Created Equal

Gut bacteria, which number more than 100 trillion cells, have more of an impact on our health than medical experts previously realized. But not all gut bacteria are created equal. Among other things, “good” gut bacteria improve digestion, strengthen the immune system, and manufacture the vitamins your body needs.

On the other hand, “bad” gut bacteria can cause digestion nightmares, mental problems, skin conditions, and all kinds of other problems you’ll learn about in just a second.

A healthy gut isn’t made by trying to rid your body of gut bacteria altogether. It’s made by balancing the bacteria – limiting the bad guys and encouraging the good guys to grow. So let’s start at the beginning: how to figure out if your gut bacteria is unbalanced.

Are Your Gut Bacteria Imbalanced? 7 Things to Look For

How can you know if your gut bacteria are out of whack? It isn’t quite as easy as finding out if you have a fever. You can’t just take your gut bacteria’s temperature with a thermometer you bought over the counter.

But there are common warning signs that something might be wrong. Keep an eye on them, and you’ll put yourself in the best position to get healthy.

Here’s what to watch out for:

Sign 1. Digestive Issues

When you think of the potential consequences of unhealthy gut bacteria, digestive problems are probably the first things that come to mind.

Many doctors will prescribe drugs like Prevacid or generic antacids to help people struggling with these issues, but those medications only address surface level symptoms. They don’t get to the root cause of the problem, which is unhealthy gut bacteria.

If you’re dealing with any of the following, you might have an unhealthy gut:

• Gas
• Bloating
• Heartburn / acid reflux
• Diarrhea
• Constipation
• Irritable Bowel Syndrome
• Irritable Bowel Disease (including Crohn’s and Ulcerative colitis)

Sign 2: Mental Issues

Did you know the health of your gut could affect the health of your brain? It’s true. Scientists have already discovered that gut bacteria produce neurotransmitters.

Now, they’re focused on another trend: people with certain mental disorders also tend to have disturbances to their gut bacteria. Believe it or not, your gut could be to blame for certain mental disorders.

If you have any of these mental issues, your gut bacteria might be to blame:

• Depression and anxiety
• Brain fog
• OCD
• Autism

Sign 3. Vitamin and Mineral Deficiencies

A healthy gut also plays an important role when it comes to helping your body produce and synthesize vitamins and minerals.

When your gut bacteria are out of whack, your body has a harder time getting enough of the following essential vitamins and minerals:

• Vitamin D
• Vitamin K
• Vitamin B12 and B7
• Magnesium

If you’re deficient in any of the above (you can find out by getting a simple physical from your doctor), you might have an unhealthy gut.

Sign 4: Antibiotics

Used correctly, antibiotics are one of the greatest innovations of modern medicine, but using them incorrectly can create gut issues. The food industry uses them indiscriminately on factory-farmed animals. Some doctors even use them on viral infections (which is useless).

Antibiotics wipe out bad bacteria, but they also wipe out many of the good bacteria in the gut that are essential for your health. Research also suggests that good bacteria wiped out by antibiotics don’t replace themselves unless you intervene.

Sign 5: Chronic, Unmanaged Stress

Stress can wear you down, make you anxious, and increase your blood pressure… and it can also wreak havoc on your gut! Stress is inevitable, no matter how hard we try to avoid it. That isn’t an issue – until you let it go on for too long without managing it.

Unmanaged stress raises cortisol levels, which can stop the gut from working properly. If you’ve been stressed for the past few months (or years, or decades) but haven’t acted to manage your stress, you’re more likely to have an unhealthy gut.

Sign 6: Skin Conditions

There’s been a lot of confusion about skin conditions over the years. Much of it comes from the common (but misguided) idea that the symptoms of a condition must appear in the same spot as the condition itself.

For many skin conditions, the problem isn’t with the skin itself. It’s with an unhealthy gut. If you have any of these skin conditions, it could be due to unbalanced gut bacteria:

• Acne
• Rosacea
• Psoriasis
• Eczema

Sign 7: Autoimmune Diseases

Autoimmune diseases can be difficult to manage because the body is literally attacking itself. It can be even tougher to spot the source of the problem and address it there. But more research is emerging linking autoimmune diseases to unhealthy guts.

If you’re dealing with any of the following, you just might be able to make your symptoms disappear by taking care of your gut:

• Hashimoto’s
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Inflammatory bowel disease

How to Balance Your Gut Bacteria in 4 Simple Steps?

If any of the warning signs above look familiar to you, there’s good news! You can take action to improve the health of your gut. Doing so can prevent new medical conditions from arising and even reverse conditions that have bothered you for years.

Ready to get started today? Here’s how to balance your gut bacteria in four simple steps:

Step 1. Avoid Toxins

If you wanted to put out a fire, adding gasoline would be worst thing you could do! Unfortunately, that’s exactly what a lot of people with unhealthy guts are doing.

They’re continuing to eat and live in a way that kills good bacteria, encourages bad bacteria to grow, and breaks down the integrity of their gut lining. Most of them don’t even realize they’re doing it.

The first step to reversing this trend is to avoid toxic foods. These include:

• Grains
• Conventional grain-fed dairy
• Sugars, including fructose
• Unhealthy oils

If you’re already following a Paleo lifestyle, you’ve pretty much taken care of this step. Stick to a diet focused on vegetables, animal protein, and fruits, and you’ll create a gut environment that’s friendly for good bacteria and unfriendly for bad bacteria.

Avoid sugar, drugs and other toxins to maintain a healthy gut.

It’s also a good idea to avoid other modern toxins. Watch out for:

• Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like Advil and Ibuprofen
• Antibiotics (as much as possible)
• Pesticides

Step 2. Eat Fermented Foods

Avoiding toxic foods and environmental toxins is a great start, but not quite enough for optimal health. It’s time to get proactive about encouraging good gut bacteria to flourish.

One of the best ways is to eat more fermented foods. These foods, commonplace in our ancestors’ diets, are full of good gut bacteria.

Great fermented foods include:

• Kimchi
• Sauerkraut
• Lacto-fermented fruits and vegetables
• Non-pasteurized yogurt, cheese, and kefir

Going from eating no sauerkraut to say… two or three bowls a day might sound like a good idea. But resist the temptation!

Adding too many fermented foods too quickly can create some nasty side effects.

Start small – a teaspoon or two a day and work your way up to give your gut time to adjust.

Step 3. Take Probiotic Supplements

In addition to eating fermented foods (a great natural source of good gut bacteria), you can restore your gut health faster by taking a daily probiotic supplement.

Our ancestors were a lot less concerned with hygiene than we are. This actually helped them pick up plenty of good gut bacteria along with the soil and other dirty things they encountered. You can use probiotic supplements to “make up” for that lost good bacteria. No eating dirt needed!

There’s a wide range of probiotic supplements available. And just like with gut bacteria, some are better than others. Dr. Tim Gerstmar laid down some excellent guidelines on which supplements to focus on:

• Stay away from “bargain bin” prices. You get what you pay for.
• Two reputable brands are Jarrow and Klaire Labs.
• Make sure they’re potent. Dr. Gerstmar recommends at least 8 billion/dose.
• Look for supplements that contain strains of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium.

Step 4. Manage Your Stress

One of the most powerful things you can do to improve your gut health (besides changing your diet) is to make “stress management” a priority. There isn’t a one-size-fits-all method to do this.

The key is to pick something you enjoy and stick with it. Making time to manage your stress – whether you feel stressed or not – will reduce inflammation, lower cortisol levels, and improve your gut health.

And make sure to get enough sleep! A sleep deficit raises cortisol levels (and harms the gut) just like any other type of stress. Shoot for at least 7 hours a night.

Change Your Gut, Change Your Life

More science is emerging every day connecting issues with the gut to issues throughout the body and mind. That’s good news for you! With knowledge and smart action, you can quite literally heal yourself from the inside out.

The recipe for a healthy gut is simple. Avoid toxic foods and substances, add in some fermented foods and probiotics, and make managing your stress a priority. It won’t happen overnight, but it will happen. Changing your gut just might be the first step to changing your life.

Watch this video to learn how to fix your gut bacteria imbalance –  The #1 Master Tip to Help Restoring a Normal Gut Flora

Written by Corey Pemberton

Author Bio:

Corey Pemberton is a freelance writer, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu practitioner, and Paleo health enthusiast. Ever since he discovered the ancestral health movement five years ago, he has explored different ways to incorporate ancestral wisdom into his nutrition, exercise, and lifestyle at large. One of his favorite topics is challenging long-held nutrition myths.

A lot of people have gotten results from the Keto diet, and enjoyed the foods that it has to offer. However, many of the people who are following this diet have a hard time finding the recipes that they need, especially ones that are quick and easy to complete.

Fortunately, Kelsey Ale, noticed this problem, and decided to do something about it. She’s found that making recipes in a slow cooker gives you meals which are not only delicious, but also take very little time to make. Mostly you just put a few simple ingredients in the slow cooker, and let it do the rest.

To find out more, click on – Keto Slow Cooker Cookbook