I wish I had a more lighthearted beginning to this…but there is much disease in the world today. Sick people and much confusion surrounding treatment of inflammatory disease and autoimmune disease. Autoimmune and inflammatory disease stems from 3 roots: genetic predisposition, a leaky gut, and microbial imbalances. These issues may present as fatigue, digestive conditions, headaches, autoimmunity, and much more. It is straight up difficult to navigate what is good for our bodies. I personally was 15 years old, throwing up every day, nauseous every morning, suffering from extreme acid reflux symptoms as well as other digestive symptoms such as ibs-c ibs-d, microscopic colitis, depression, fatigue. It all just kept adding up until I felt like I couldn’t do it anymore. Have you ever felt like that? Do you feel like that now? If the answer to those questions is yes then I think it’s time to learn a little bit about leaky gut.
Leaky gut can result in skin problems, food sensitivities, osteoarthritis, migraine headaches, asthma, eczema, and mental health issues. Read that again. Leaky gut can result in all of those problems and more. Yes, it is that important to work on your digestive health. So what is leaky gut? In your small intestine, the cells are designed to be extremely close to each other so they can only allow the smallest microscopic nutrients to pass through them. There’s a slight space between these cells called a tight gap junction. These tight gap junctions can become inflamed as well as looser due to this instability. When these tight gap junctions aren’t so tight, portions of undigested proteins sneak throughmand enter the bloodstream. As a result, the immune cells now view these partially digested proteins (peptides) in the bloodstream as invaders stage an attack. Now… your body is attacking itself. Great! See where the autoimmune comes in? All you did was try to eat some dinner and now your body is attacking itself, isn’t this world confusing?
So what causes leaky gut? The answer to that is not so simple. Leaky gut is typically a result of a combination of things from your birth to now. Some factors can include stress, lack of sleep, lack of nutrients in diet, toxins, poor liver detoxification, and lack of microbial diversity. To summarize, a holistic evaluation on your stress, sleep, nutrition, and lifestyle choices is necessary. When I work with clients, there is not one protocol or diet to follow. Every session and package is individualized. When dealing with leaky gut, you have to hit it from all angles. Supportive foods, supportive movement and supportive people in your life are all crucial for the journey. It’s a whole lifestyle change. But, there are small things that you can start doing everyday to drastically improve your quality of life. Some steps you can take today are going for a walk, sitting in the sun for 15 minutes, having a conversation with a loved one, singing in the shower, taking a couple deep breaths when you wake up in the morning…allow the small things to add up!
So what can you do about it? I just listed a few small steps that you can start doing today. But, you’ve been suffering, you’re sick of it. The doctors are trying to help, but are only offering limited solutions…what’s next? First, take a deep breath…know and tell yourself that it doesn’t need to be like this forever. That was a thought I had constantly, I told myself I was supposed to be sick, I was created like this and this is never going to end. We must shift that perspective now. You have the power, your body is strong, you can do this.
Check out my self-care exploration guide for some tips on how to digest better without changing your diet and intro to breath and relaxation. Check out my guide for those who feel like shit for a basic outline on nutritional and lifestyle habits to explore today. If you want the support of someone who can guide you through this process, please set up a discovery call with me! I would love to connect and hear your story!
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