Digestive Issues and Leaky Gut
The symptoms of leaky gut are as vast as the ocean. The digestive system can be seen as the basis for our overall health. From the moment we are born air, food and water are our mainstays for physical health. Almost all of these are processed through our bellies.
Wouldn’t you know it, our bowels are considered the largest organ of the body in surface area. Laid flat they would cover an entire tennis court! While large it is as delicate as lace at only one cell deep.
Comparatively our skin has 7 layers with each layer having many cells layers. The outer most skin, the epidermis, has 25-30 layers of dead skin cells not including all the living cells!
Digestive Health = Overall Health
So when the gut is out of balance, life is out of balance. Typical symptoms can include, bloating, gas, food allergies, rashes, fatigue, poor bowel movement that can be urgent, loose or constipated. Ultimately, if left long enough leaky gut can lead to auto immune problems. So besides having symptoms from the skin to digestion to elimination, leaky gut can lead to a whole host of problems in your immune system which can have serious consequences beyond the “I need a bathroom, right now!” Acupuncture along with Chinese Medicine has a long history of improving digestion issues.
Chinese Medicine Works to Repair Digestion
Chinese Medicine, Acupuncture and Functional Medicine have a great history with improving digestion. You can make remarkable gains in your digestion and overall health from making simple dietary changes. We will work on diet and lifestyle to improve your gut function. Food is medicine and and like software is telling your body what to do. The question is what are the foods you are feeding yourself telling your body to do? We will explore these concepts together. Using supplements for healing the gut lining and simple daily changes you can make significant improvements in your digestion. And as the digestive center is the corner stone of health you will notice all sorts of improvements from better sleep, more energy and increased focus.
Causes of Leaky Gut
Use of NSAIDs
Non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as aspirin, Advil, Aleve have been shown to increase small intestine permeability (aka leaky gut) One study showed that 90% of people who took NSAIS for their arthritis for two weeks developed leaky gut. This study was well designed and was done over 25 years ago so it is questionable why anyone is given NSAIDs on a consistent basis, knowing that damaging your small intestine lining leads to a whole host of issues most disconcerting is auto immune reactions.
Alcohol
Studies show that drinking more than two drinks per day has be associated with leaky gut too. Sorry Napa Valley!
Malnutrition
Eat a diet that is high in additives, artificial coloring and preservative can disrupt the thin barrier of the gut lining. The lining of your small bowel is only one cell deep. Once that is damaged your body produces chemicals as an inflammatory response.
This is similar to when someone has a sprained their ankle. This swelling function is a natural phenomenon of the body but when it happens in you’re belly repeatedly it can cause you to have a leaky gut. This combined with a diet that is low in the antioxidants, found in colorful fruits and vegetables, can cause the gut to loose it’s integrity.
The standard American diet is the perfect storm. Highly processed foods, mostly white in color that lack any true nutrients combined with a lack of the healing antioxidants of vegetables and some fruits. And just to add insult to injury, once your gut lining is damage you don’t absorb the good nutrition that you do eat as well.
Infections and Parasites
Dehli Belly, Montezuma’s Revenge, or just Giradia from camping or poorly prepared foods, any stomach-bowel infection can lead to leaky gut. The more serious ones have a greater likelihood of developing leaky gut. What is treated is the infection but nothing is done to help repair the bowl walls. Allergies to foods can become part of the problem. And when you can digest you develop nutritional deficiencies.
Food Allergies
Food allergies themselves can be the cause as well as the out come of a leaky gut. It can be a downward spiral. You start with a food allergy, say celiac disease or gluten intolerance. Your body reacts with an inflammatory response when you eat these foods. This leads to swelling and inflammation of the gut lining.
So food particles can get through the lining of intestines in larger sizes that it should. For instance your body doesn’t recognize chicken as a 7 chain amino acid but as a 5 chain amino acid so the immune system doing what it should launches an attack every time it sees a 7 chain amino acid particle of chicken. So you end up having an allergic reaction to chicken and a more distressed gut barrier leading to more allergies and more inflammation. So the cycle goes on and on and health diminishes as you are unable to get the basic nutrition you need to rebuild your cells.
