Resolve your gut issues

Do you know what's causing your digestive upset?

There are many causes of gut problems. As the gut is intrinsically linked with the brain, anything affecting the brain, such as stress will have an effect on the gut.

Other causes which need to be eliminated are food intolerance’s, an IgG test can identify if there are any specific immune reactions to certain foods. Following an elimination diet once these have been identified, can take some pressure off the digestive system to allow it to heal. But we must ask the question, 'what caused the food intolerance in the first instance'. Nutritional therapy can help in getting to the route cause. The five 'R' protocol is a very effective method of restoring the gut back to its former glory. It goes like this...

1. Remove

2. Replace

3. Reinoculate

4. Repair

5. Restore

Firstly, we must identify anything that could be an issue, in order to remove it, be it a food intolerance, candida or other yeast infection, dysbiosis; an imbalance within the host's gut bacteria, or SIBO; Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth. Then we must put an effective protocol together to address the offender. The second stage is to replace anything that is missing, this could be certain nutrients, digestive enzymes or friendly bacteria. We then need to reinoculate the bowel with specific probiotics and prebiotics, together with powerful antioxidants and anthocyanins which can aid healing and repair the gut wall. Next comes the repair stage. If damage has been done to the bowel wall it is essential this is healed in order to stop symptoms. A damaged wall, or gut permeability, also referred to as leaky gut will simply keep symptoms going as proteins from foods escape through the bowel wall causing immune reactions. These can result in non-gut related symptoms also, such as eczema, psoriasis, headaches, migraines, nausea… And finally we restore the system to ensure everything is brought back into harmony and you can be free from any and all digestive upset.

Having a healthy balanced diet which is full of plants can make a huge difference to any gut related condition. Avoiding stress, or at least trying to relax before eating will be of great benefit. Try breathing in for a count of four and out for a count of seven, this helps engage our rest and digestive part of our nervous system and will help with the release of digestive enzymes.