Leaky Gut Series- Part 1

Are Your Chronic Symptoms Linked to Leaky Gut?

Hey There! If you have read my ‘About Me’ page then you know my leaky gut story. This is a topic I find truly fascinating and research continues to prove how crucial gut health is to our overall well being. Those of us who have experienced and healed from gut dysfunction are glad to see the world of conventional medicine waking up to this reality. Studying the connection between our gut bacteria, all hundred trillion of them, and the functioning of our bodily systems, including the brain, is currently the hottest thing happening in medicine.  That is great news because leaky gut is a serious issue that is becoming an epidemic.

The reason it is crucial to be aware of and understand leaky gut (also known as increased intestinal permeability) is the symptoms can be so varied and appear completely unrelated to gut health. You could line up ten people with damaged gut linings and see ten different presentations. One could have skin issues like psoriasis or eczema, another may have asthma, and yet another could have severe digestive issues such as Crohn’s disease or IBS.

Migraines, joint pain, mood disorders, autism, ADHD….all of these things can occur due to leaky gut. Do YOU have any of these issues? If you do please look beyond the smoke and find the fire. It’s vital that you get to the CAUSE of your symptoms so that you can experience   permanent healing.

How Does Leaky Gut Get Started?

Great question!  There are various causes of damage to the intestinal lining with diet being a leading factor. If you follow the SAD diet (standard American diet) it is not hard to wrack up a good case of leaky gut. Eating things like wheat and corn, omega 6 vegetable oils like canola, corn, and soybean, consuming sugar and high fructose corn syrup, trans fats, alcohol,...these are all contributors on a long list that lead to trouble in the gut.

Other major contributors are stress, imbalance of gut bacteria, low digestive enzyme production, low levels of stomach acid, and medications such as NSAIDS, antibiotics and birth control pills.

When your diet and lifestyle combine to create this scenario, here is a picture of what can begin to happen.

Ideally your gut lining acts as a barrier to the rest of your body and it is sealed with tightly woven junctions.  It should allow only properly digested nutrients (aka good stuff), through the barrier and into the bloodstream.  Things such as a poor diet, stress, NSAIDS and antibiotics cause inflammation to occur which eventually damages this tightly woven barrier, allowing larger gaps to open up. When this happens larger protein particles like gluten and undigested food particles, unfriendly bacteria and toxins, (aka bad stuff) which were never meant to pass through the lining, can now slip by and enter the bloodstream.

(If this isn’t bad enough, the damage that’s been done to your gut lining can make it difficult to absorb nutrients properly, leaving you deficient in essential vitamins and minerals. Do you consistently test low in vitamin B12 or iron? This could be your problem.)

So….Your gut is now LEAKY and your body does not recognize these foreign INVADERS that snuck in uninvited.. ... and so begins the immune reaction with the production of antibodies.

Antibodies are generally very helpful, they are the army sent to fight and conquer anything the body deems invasive. However, your leaky gut is allowing invaders to enter constantly, hence systemic inflammation.  In the case of autoimmunity, rather than inflammation fighting germs, the body begins to destroy its own tissues. OUCH! Now we have autoimmune disease. Which autoimmune disease you develop will depend on what part of the body is being attacked. If it is the thyroid under attack you may develop Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. If it is the digestive system under attack you may end up with Crohn’s disease. If the joints are under attack you suffer from Rheumatoid Arthritis and so on.

So, as you can see, leading a lifestyle that sets you up for leaky gut starts a snowball rolling which quickly becomes an avalanche. Your health gets buried under the debris of leaky gut, inflammation and auto- immune disease. If you don’t dig yourself out, one auto- immune disease can lead to another. The good news is that if you look beyond your symptoms and address the cause, there is a way out.

In the next series of this article we will address ways to heal your leaky gut, reverse symptoms and return to optimal health!

I would love to hear from you! Do you have questions, health concerns or a topic you would like discussed? Leave a message here sally@free-rangehealth.com