Gut Health

“If you think health and wellness are expensive, try illness.”

The gut is considered the second brain. The gut drives the immune system, it has its own nervous system, and it profoundly affects brain function.

It’s impossible to manage a chronic illness without addressing your gut.

If you have gut complaints, chances are you have other chronic health issues, or are at higher risk of developing a chronic health condition.

Do you suffer from any of the following symptoms?

-Pain or cramping in the stomach or abdomen
-Abdominal bloating from gas
-Chronic skin issues (psoriasis, eczema, rashes, etc.)
-Indigestion
-Nausea or heartburn
-Excess gas, flatulence, belching, bloating
-Chronic constipation, diarrhea, or both
-Fatty stools Irritable bowel syndrome
-Multiple food sensitivities
-Malabsorption symptoms
-Fatigue
-Joint pain

Gut problems can have multiple causes. In functional medicine, we look at why you have gut symptoms instead of simply looking for ways to mask or treat symptoms. Treating the symptom may further damage the gut lining causing it to become overly porous, allowing undigested food, bacteria, yeast, molds, and other pathogens to escape into the sterile environment of the bloodstream.

Many different factors can cause gut problems, and they should be addressed as they can cause bigger health problems such as chronic pain and even mood disorders.

Leaky gut or intestinal permeability is the most common gut disorder we see in functional medicine, and it plays a primary role in many health disorders. It causes the intestines to become inflamed and damaged. Once in the bloodstream, these compounds trigger inflammation, which is at the heart of so many chronic health problems today.

Leaky Gut Symptoms Include:

-Skin issue
-Joint pain
-Chronic pain
-Autoimmune disease
-Puffiness
-Fatigue
-Brain fog
-Depression
-Anxiety disorders
-Poor memory
-Asthma
-Food allergies and sensitivities
-Seasonal allergies
-Fungal infections
-Migraines
-Arthritis
-PMS
-Inflammatory bowel disorder
-Crohn’s disease
-Type 1 diabetes
-Psoriasis …and many more.

Do you struggle with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), diarrhea, or constipation? Is your belly always bloated? If so, you may have small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO).

SIBO symptoms include:

-Bloating, excess gas, belching
-Abdominal bloating
-Abdominal pain and cramping
-Constipation, diarrhea, or both
-Nausea or heartburn
-Irritable bowel syndrome
-Multiple food sensitivities
-Leaky gut
-Fatigue
-Malabsorption symptoms 
-Rosacea
-Neurologic and muscular diseases

SIBO happens when bacteria that belongs in the large intestine works its way into the small intestine, where it doesn’t belong. These bacteria produce large amounts of gas when you eat sugars, grains, legumes, and other foods that activate SIBO. This is what causes bloating, belching, flatulence, constipation, and diarrhea. Constipation, diarrhea, or both Nausea or heartburn Irritable bowel syndrome Multiple food sensitivities Leaky gut Fatigue Malabsorption symptoms Rosacea Neurologic and muscular diseases

SIBO irritates and damages the lining of the small intestine, leading to leaky gut, in turn triggering chronic health disorders linked to inflammation.

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Functional Medicine approach to gut health

We have a systematic, comprehensive approach for restoring your gastrointestinal function.  After digging deep at your health history and results of your diagnostic testing, we begin with the 5R’s.

Our team of experts, can help you strategize and prioritize so that your life doesn’t have to stop for your gut healing to move forward.

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The 5R’s To Balancing Your Gut…

 

1. REMOVE  

Remove stressors: get rid of things that negatively affect the environment of the GI tract including allergic foods (gluten, dairy, corn, soy, eggs and sugar which can lead to food sensitivities), infections (parasites and potential problematic bacteria or yeast), and gastric irritants like environmental toxins (chemicals, or heavy metals).  

2. REPLACE  

Replace the healing ingredients missing from the body required for proper digestion and absorption that may have been depleted or compromised by diet, disease, aging or other factors.  

3. REINOCULATE 

Help beneficial bacteria flourish by ingesting probiotic foods or supplements that contain the “good” GI bacteria such as bifidobacteria and lactobacillus species, and by consuming the high soluble fiber foods that good bugs like to eat, called prebiotics.  Probiotics are beneficial microorganisms found in the gut that are also called “friendly bacteria.”  Use of antibiotics kills both good and bad bacteria.  Probiotics in the form of supplements or food are often needed to help re-establish a balanced gut flora. 

4. REPAIR

Support the lining of the GI tract in order to repair it by supplying key nutrients that can often be in short supply in a compromised gut, such as zinc, antioxidants (e.g. vitamins A, C, and E), fish oil, and the amino acid glutamine, as well as herbs such as slippery elm and aloe vera.  

5. REBALANCE

Consider the other lifestyle choices which contribute to health: Sleep, exercise, and stress can all affect the GI tract as well as additional strategies to help to boost immunity and help prevent future ill-health. Balancing those activities is important to an optimal digestive tract.