One of the most important factors in achieving optimal health and wellness is a properly functioning gut. This is alway on our minds as we are assessing your health and putting together your plans

• Any attempt to restore health without addressing the gut is missing a vital step
• Why
  • Poor gut health can result in nutritional deficiencies, chronic illness, interferes with digestion, absorption and can lead to inflammation, decreased immune function, hormone balance, brain function and more
  • Some symptoms of a poor functioning gut includes
    • Constipation and diarrhea, bloating, gas, heartburn, reflux, food cravings, obesity, heart disease, diabetes, thyroid dysfunction, low testosterone, menstrual dysfunction, mood disorder, sleep and memory problems
• Common digestive tract issues explained
  • Dysbiosis
    • When good and bad strains of bacteria or yeast in the intestinal tract become imbalance
    • Often overgrowth that can kill off good bacteria
    • Optimal amounts of good bacteria are needed in order to
      • Make b vitamins and k
      • Breaking down fiber in foods
      • 80% of immune function
      • Making and using sex hormones and fat burning hormones
      • Keep inflammation in balance
      • Produce neurotransmitters like serotonin that affect mood
  • The SAD and american lifestyle is full of factors that destroy good bacteria and allow for bad bacteria to thrive. Things like processed foods, additives and chemicals, GMOS, medications like antibiotics and birth control pills, and even stress. 
  • Reduced acid and digestive enzymes
    • Can be an underlying cause of GI tract dysfunction
    • Most think we have TOO much acid but more people actually don’t have enough stomach acid to close the LES sphincter 
    • If you’ve ever used antiacids, probably means there is an issue with you gut
    • Lifestyle factors and stress can lead to diminished stomach acid and digestive enzymes
    • Can mean that you are not digesting your food as well as you should AND can set you up for dysbiosis like we just mentioned. Stomach acid is crucial is killing off bad bacteria and parasites that we may be eating in our foods
    • Everything we are recommending and that you are learning is working to set you up to balance your gut and support appropriate acid and enzyme production
  • Leaky Gut
    • You may have heard of this
    • The intestinal lining is only made up of a single layer of cells whos job is to absorb only well digested nutrients from our foods and filter out toxins and pathogens. The tight junctions between the cells can be compromised when exposed to diets high in sugar, processed foods, GMOs, medication/antibiotics nutritional deficiencies and stress
    • That makes the lining of the gut more porous than it should be and undigested food particles, toxins and microorganisms can pass into the bloodstream, which triggers and inflammatory immune response. 
    • This triggers more inflammation and a greater loss of the gut integrity and our ability to digest foods and produce essential enzymes for digestion. 
    • You can see how this is a problem
  • Everything that you’ve been working on so far and that we will continue to work on is designed to help you improve intestinal integrity and combat the permeability of the digestive tract. 
  • We often use supplements, homeopathic remedies and probiotics to restore the gut environment so you can maintain the healthy balance of bacteria and yest, which will improve you digestive enzyme production. 
  • Not all probiotics are created equal. 
    • Should be highly researched
    • Third party tested
  • Other pieces that will help support the restoration of your gut include
    • Following you food intolerance guidelines
    • Eating a lot of different kinds of fruits and vegetables
    • Proper hydration
    • Stress management
    • Adequate fiber