Healthy Lifestyle – Page 10

What You Need to Know About Elimination Diets

If you’re experiencing symptoms and can’t seem to find a cause, an elimination diet might a good next step for you. Food intolerances, allergies and sensitivities can express in so many different ways it can be hard to track down what food is causing which symptom. This is especially the case if you’re eating foods that packaged foods or meals that have been prepared for you outside your home.

Symptoms like brain fog, fatigue, chronic sinus congestion, eczema or skin irritation, bloating, and even headaches can all be traced back to food sensitivities. The tricky thing is that the symptoms of these sensitivities might not appear for days after you’ve eaten the foods, which makes it hard to track down the culprit. In this case doing a careful elimination diet is a great way to monitor your intake and identify offending foods.

As difficult as it might be to follow a strict protocol for 4-6 weeks, the stress that a food sensitivity puts on your body is much worse in the long run. This post covers some pros and cons of the diet so you can be prepared going in.

Our digestive system is the main portal into our bodies. Lots of things can come in that aren’t good for us. And because the system is so complex (discerning which tiny molecules to absorb, and which keep out), lots can go wrong. And that’s one reason why 70% of our immune system lives in and around our digestive system.

This makes food allergies, sensitivities, and intolerances a huge contribution to an array of symptoms all over our bodies. Things like autoimmune issues, inflammation, and even our moods can be affected by what we eat. If you have digestive issues or any other unexplained symptoms, you may consider trying an elimination diet.

An elimination diet is one where you strategically eliminate certain foods to see if you react to them. It can help immensely when trying to figure out if a particular food is causing symptoms because you’re sensitive to it.

You generally start out by eliminating the most common food allergens for a few weeks. Then you slowly add them back one at a time and note any symptoms (better or worse).

Let’s go over the pros and cons of this diet.

Pros of elimination diets

The main benefit is that, by tuning into your body’s reactions to certain foods, you can pinpoint sensitivities and intolerances that you may not otherwise know of. Experiencing results first-hand can be very motivating when it comes to sticking to eliminating a certain food.

Elimination diets can be less expensive, and in some cases more reliable, than standard allergy testing.

It can also be very empowering to be in control of what you eat, to learn about food and the compounds they contain, and try new recipes that exclude eliminated foods. Having a good plan makes things much easier (even exciting). If you love grocery shopping, cooking from scratch, and trying new recipes, you’re going to draw on all these skills.

These diets can be customizable, which is a great pro (see first con below).

Cons of elimination diets

You may not figure out everything you’re sensitive to. Your plan should be strategically created to ensure that the most common food allergens are eliminated. This will give you the highest likelihood of success. It can become complicated if you let it.

It’s a commitment for around 4-6 weeks, if not longer (which can be difficult for some people).

If you’re not used to tracking all foods and all symptoms every day, you’re going to have to start. Tracking your food intake is the best way to identify patterns that might go along with your symptoms. (Hint: food intolerance symptoms can appear up to 3 days after ingesting the offending food).

You may find that you’re intolerant to one of your favourite foods, or even an entire group of your favourite foods.

When you’re eliminating certain foods (or parts of foods, like gluten), it can be tricky. You’ll need to be strict with your food intake while on the elimination diet. This might mean preparing all your foods, snacks and drinks yourself from scratch. If you don’t take full control like this, it can be so easy to accidentally ingest something that you’re cutting out. And at that point, you might need to start all over again.

Conclusion

Elimination diets can be a very useful tool to identify food sensitivities. They can be empowering and customized.

However, they can be difficult to adhere to and you’ll need to be strict about your food intake during the 4-6 week time period in order to find accurate results.

Have you done an elimination diet? What was your experience? Let me know in the comments below.

Recipe (Elimination diet friendly): Steamed Salmon and Vegetables

Serves 2

2 medium zucchini, sliced thinly
½ pint mushrooms, sliced
2 tsp coconut oil (melted)
4 tsp water
2 boneless, skinless salmon fillets (no more than 1 ¼ “ thick)
½ clove garlic, diced
2 dashes salt & pepper

Instructions

Preheat oven to 450F.

Toss vegetables with coconut oil. Tear two sheets of parchment paper and fold in half. Open the sheets and place half of the vegetables onto each sheet on one side of the fold.

Add 2 teaspoons of water and place a fillet on top. Top with garlic, salt, and pepper.

Fold the other half of each sheet over the fish, and tightly crimp the edges.

Put packets flat on a baking sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes.

Remove from oven and check to ensure fish flakes easily with a fork (be careful the steam is hot).

Open each pack and place onto plates.

Serve & enjoy!

Tip: You can mix up the vegetables or herbs following your elimination diet guidelines.

References:

https://www.precisionnutrition.com/elimination-diet

http://www.dietvsdisease.org/11-warning-signs-you-have-a-food-intolerance/

What is Processed Food?

There’s a ton of conflicting nutrition information out there. It seems like there are 1,000 different diets and they all tell us to do something different. Eat meat! Eat plants! Avoid carbs! Eat less fat! No wonder we can’t make sense of it all.

Curiously though, there is one thing that pretty much all of the diets out there agree on:

Eating whole foods.

That’s right. Whole foods, minimally processed, they make it onto our plates as close to the way they occur in nature.

Yet, we live in a world of convenience. And when you’re working long days, traveling for work, and you’re not done even once you’re home from the office, it can be tempting to reach for things that are more convenient than whole foods.

Oh and food cravings… those are rarely for healthy whole foods.

Enter processed foods. How bad are they? What makes a food qualify as processed? I hear these questions often, so I thought I’d share the answers with you below…

The world of food can be so confusing at times. There was a time when it was clear what food was – it came directly from nature – whether foraging, hunting, or farming.

Now there are so many things we eat that don’t resemble a natural food.

Michael Pollan has a famous quote, he said:

“Eat Food – Not too much – Mostly Plants.”

And in his famous book, In Defense of Food, he defines what food should be. He says, “Don’t eat anything your great-great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize as food.”

And, we can all agree that some things are obviously not recognizable by our great-great-grandmothers: candy bars, fast food, and sports drinks.

We can also say that many of the common health issues we face today: heart disease, diabetes, some cancers, cavities, etc. didn’t exist at anywhere near the rates before industrially processed foods became available.

But, where do we draw the line? How do we define processed? How processed is processed? And what the heck is ultra-processed?

Allow me to let you in on the internationally recognized classification system. And we’re going to go through it step-by-step with an apple.

Unprocessed

According to NOVA, the official definition of unprocessed or natural foods is:

“The edible parts of plants (seeds, fruits, leaves, stems, roots) or of animals(muscle, offal, eggs, milk), and also fungi, algae, and water, after separation from nature.”

This is like eating a whole apple right off the tree – clearly unprocessed.

Minimally processed

Minimally processed foods are:

“natural foods altered by processes such as removal of inedible or unwanted parts, drying, crushing, grinding, fractioning, filtering, roasting, boiling, pasteurization, refrigeration, freezing, placing in containers, vacuum packaging, or nonalcoholic fermentation. None of these processes adds substances such as salt, sugar, oils or fats to the original food.”

So, with our apple example, once you cut the apple’s core out and put the slices into a container to bring with you for your afternoon snack, you are processing it – minimally. You can even peel and boil that chopped apple to make applesauce. And, as long as you don’t add anything else (like cinnamon), it’s still considered minimally processed.

Processed

Processed foods, on the other hand, are relatively simple products made by adding sugar, oil, salt or other processed ingredients to unprocessed foods.

“Most processed foods have two or three ingredients. Processes include various preservation or cooking methods, and, in the case of bread and cheese, non-alcoholic fermentation. The main purpose of the manufacture of processed foods is to increase the durability of unprocessed foods, or to modify or enhance their sensory qualities.”

So, if you take that applesauce, add cinnamon, and/or use it in a recipe, you technically have processed the apple.

This can still be a healthy choice (depending on the quality of the ingredients added) as you’ll see in the next definition of ultra-processed.

Ultra-processed

Here’s where things get interesting and scary!

Ultra-processed foods are:

“Industrial formulations typically with five or more and usually many ingredients. Such ingredients often include those also used in processed foods, such as sugar, oils, fats, salt, anti-oxidants, stabilizers, and preservatives. Ingredients only found in ultra-processed products include substances not commonly used in culinary preparations, and additives whose purpose is to imitate sensory qualities of [unprocessed] foods … or to disguise undesirable sensory qualities of the final product. [Unprocessed] foods are a small proportion of or are even absent from ultra-processed products.”

So, pre-packaged apple strudel with a long shelf life is very much an ultra-processed food. If you took a look at the ingredient list of pre-packaged apple strudel (one with a long shelf life), you would see added sugars, oils, preservatives, and flavour enhancers. And we can argue that the healthy apple is a small (very small) proportion of the strudel.

Conclusion

There is a clear delineation between unprocessed (the apple) and ultra-processed (the pre-packaged strudel with a long shelf life) foods. An apple is nowhere near what a mass produced apple strudel is. But, there are a couple of different categories in between these – namely minimally processed and processed.

It’s clear that unprocessed (apple) and minimally processed (plain applesauce) foods are almost always quite healthy and nutritious. It’s also clear that ultra-processed food is not so healthy.

Now that you know the definitions of these foods, I think you’ll agree with me that the commonly used term processed is often referring to the industrial ultra-processing of foods.

I’d love to hear your thought on these definitions. Let me know in the comments below.

Recipe (minimally processed): Slow-Cooker Applesauce

Serves 16

4 lbs apples, washed and chopped
¾ cup water

Instructions:

Place apples and water in a large pot.

Bring to a boil and simmer until apples are soft about 20 minutes.

Blend or mash the apples into desired consistency.

Serve & enjoy!

Tip: Add some cinnamon for extra flavour, and use the applesauce to make overnight oats.

References:

http://www.summertomato.com/processed-food-vs-real-food

http://archive.wphna.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/WN-2016-7-1-3-28-38-Monteiro-Cannon-Levy-et-al-NOVA.pdf

Everything You Need to Know About Prebiotics

We’ve been talking about gut health on the blog the past few weeks and I’ve got another gut-friendly post for you.

Taking care of your gut is one of the most impactful things you can do for your health. Especially since there are so many foods and lifestyle factors that negatively impact your gut health (think stress, coffee and sugar!).

You might have heard a lot about the importance probiotics, our friendly gut bacteria. But lesser-known pre-biotics are just as important to maintaining a healthy gut.

In this post I explain what prebiotics are and why you’ll want to have them in your diet. If you heat a variety of whole grains and plant foods you’ll likely have enough prebiotics in your diet to maintain a healthy gut ecosystem. But if not, check out the list at the bottom of this post for ideas on how to add more.

“Pre”biotics?

Yes! They’re the food that we feed the friendly microbes that are oh so important for good health.

Our gut microbes are alive, and they need to eat too. Their favourite foods are known as “prebiotics” and include dietary fibre and resistant starch. That’s the same fibre that keeps us feeling full slows down digestion and provides roughage that keeps us regular. Resistant starch helps promote healthy blood lipids. Both of types of prebiotics (fibre and resistant starch) are linked with many health benefits.

Technically-speaking, a prebiotic has three qualities:

It needs to be undigested and reach the colon intact;
It needs to be digested by our gut microbes; and,
It needs to stimulate our health-promoting good gut microbes.

Now that we know what prebiotics are let’s dive into their health benefits.

Health benefits of prebiotics

Prebiotic fibre helps keep us regular by bulking up our bowel movements. It gives them substance and form, so they’re not too loose. In fact, more fibre is often recommended to help with symptoms of diarrhea. Prebiotic fibre used to be thought of like a broom that sweeps food through our guts, but we’re learning more about its health benefits beyond this role.

For example, prebiotics can also help to maintain normal bowel structure and function, and even enhance blood flow to the cells of the colon.

Those are some of the health benefits of prebiotics themselves. But we get even more health benefits when our friendly gut microbes eat and digest them.

For one thing, our gut microbes use prebiotics to make short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs). These SCFAs (e.g., butyrate) can feed the cells of our colon to keep them healthy. SCFAs also inhibit the growth of bad gut microbes, and can even increase mineral (e.g., calcium and magnesium) absorption. These effects are all linked to the slight acidity caused by the acids in those SCFAs.

Dietary fibre also binds to healthful phytonutrients (phyto = plant). These phytonutrients are lost when the fibre is removed from the food. But, when we eat the prebiotic fibre, our gut microbes release these phytonutrients so we can absorb and use them.

Where to get prebiotics

Dietary fibre and resistant starch are the main sources of prebiotics.

Prebiotic fibre is found mostly in plants; both fruits and vegetables.

Resistant starch is any starch (a type of carbohydrate) that goes through most of our digestive tract without being digested. It’s not broken down by our digestive enzymes because it’s “resistant”… until it gets to our gut microbes in the colon. Resistant starch is found in starchy foods like whole grains and potatoes.

One of the big differences between fibre and resistant starch is that all of the fibre we eat is indigestible. All of it reaches the colon. Resistant starch, on the other hand, is just a small percent of the starch we eat. Most starch is digested and absorbed along our digestive tract, and that part is not considered to be prebiotic. Only the small amount of starch that is resistant to digestion and makes it down to the colon to feed our probiotics is prebiotic.

Prebiotic fibre is found in fibrous fruits and vegetables. It’s essentially what’s removed when we make juice – the pulp. It’s one of the reasons why eating whole fruits and vegetables is more healthful than replacing them with juice.

Here are some great sources of dietary fibre:

Onions
Asparagus
Bananas
Berries
Pears

Resistant starch is found in:

Whole grains (e.g. oats)
Potatoes
Cornmeal
Seeds
Legumes
Green bananas

Starches can be made resistant by cooking and cooling these foods before eating them. The cooling process allows the starches to re-shape themselves into a structure that is harder to digest (i.e., more resistant).

Conclusion

Prebiotics are fibre and resistant starches that feed our gut microbes. And when we feed our gut microbes, they help keep our gut healthy and have other health benefits too.

Do you ever juice your amazingly healthy fruits and vegetables and have a ton of leftover pulp? What do you do with it? I have a great recipe for using that oh so healthy prebiotic fibre in a delicious way.

Recipe (prebiotic): Overnight Oats

1 cup rolled oats
½ cup coconut milk
½ cup almond milk
1-2 tablespoon maple syrup
1 Tbsp. chia seeds
1 tsp vanilla
½ tsp cinnamon
pinch of sea salt
1 cup fresh blueberries

Instructions

Combine oats, milk, chia seeds, vanilla extract, cinnamon, salt and maple syrup in a large bowl. Stir together until well combined.
Fold in fresh blueberries.
Transfer to two 8 ounce mason jars, cover, and the refrigerator at least 4 hours or overnight.

Serve & enjoy!

Tip: Top with nuts, seeds, or extra fruit.

References:

http://neurotrition.ca/blog/your-gut-bugs-what-they-eat-and-7-ways-feed-them

https://nutritionfacts.org/video/juicing-removes-more-than-just-fiber/

https://nutritionfacts.org/video/resistant-starch-colon-cancer/

https://extension.psu.edu/prebiotics-how-to-feed-your-good-bacteria

https://www.monash.edu/medicine/ccs/gastroenterology/prebiotic/faq

https://www.precisionnutrition.com/all-about-fibre

How to Help a Leaky Gut

If you’ve read our blog “Do I Have a Leaky Gut” you might have ended up here wondering what to do about it. Well, like many chronic lifestyle conditions, there is no overnight fix. It takes time for the body to get to the state it’s in, and will time to heal.

The good news is you can start to support your gut health right away with the tips in this post. I’ve listed a number of foods that will support your gut in healing, and some foods to avoid.

Keep in mind that lifestyle factors like stress, a packed schedule, poor sleep, and worrying will affect your gut just as much as what you’re putting into your body. Also, exposure to toxins and chemicals in the air, water, and especially in personal care products will affect your gut’s ability to heal and stay healthy. Switch to natural products where possible and avoid exposure to toxic chemicals (like household cleaners, hand sanitizers, and anything “antibacterial”) wherever you can.

If you suspect you have a leaky gut, contact your natural health professional for help in addressing the issue with a protocol that’s suited to you.

Leaky gut is also known as increased intestinal permeability. The cells lining our intestines (gut) supposed to be nice and tightly joined to one another. The role of the gut lining is to allow certain things into our bodies (like nutrients), and keep other things out. When the gut becomes leaky, these cells separate a bit from each other, leaving our gut unable to filter as well as it should.

When the tight junctions between intestinal cells weaken it can cause the gut to be more permeable – leakier – than normal. When this happens, it allows things into our bodies that should not get in; things like large pieces of protein, toxins, or even bacteria and waste.

When substances that shouldn’t be there get into our bloodstream through the “leaks” in our gut, our immune system kicks in. These leaked bits mimic a food allergy, and our body reacts accordingly. It mounts a response to try to attack the invaders, and this causes inflammation.

Leaky gut is associated with a number of issues including food allergies, celiac disease, autoimmune diseases (e.g., Inflammatory Bowel Disease, Hashimoto’s, asthma, type 1 diabetes, acne, eczema), joint pain, and neurological problems (e.g., multiple sclerosis). Some research shows that leaky gut might contribute to or worsen these conditions.

While some of our gut permeability may have a genetic factor, there are lifestyle habits that contribute as well. Too much sugar or alcohol, and not enough fiber can make things worse. Even certain compounds in foods (e.g., gluten, lectins, casein, fructose) and food additives (e.g., MSG) can weaken tight junctions.

So, what should we eat, and avoid, for optimal gut health?

Avoid or reduce these

There are certain foods that irritate the gut or can cause those loosened junctions to get even looser.

Some of these include:

Foods that you’re allergic to (this is very individual)
Foods with added sugar
Foods containing MSG
Foods with sugar alcohols (e.g., sorbitol)
Gluten-containing grains (e.g., wheat, rye)
High-lectin foods (e.g., grains, legumes)
Nightshades (e.g., eggplant, peppers, tomato)
Dairy (which contains casein & lactose)
Excessive alcohol

It’s a good idea to reduce these foods and if leaky gut is a confirmed issue for you, avoid them until the leaky gut has been addressed.

Eat more of these

There are also a bunch of foods that support gut health, including the intestinal cells themselves, as well as our friendly gut microbes. Many of these also reduce inflammation.

Things like:

Probiotic-rich fermented foods (e.g., sauerkraut, kimchi)
Prebiotic fibre-rich foods which help our gut microbes produce butyrate (e.g., leafy greens, vegetables, fruit, nuts, seeds)
Glutamine-rich foods (e.g., bone broth, meat, cartilage)
Zinc-rich foods (e.g., shellfish, organ meats, and pumpkin seeds)
Quercetin-rich foods (e.g., citrus, apples, onions)
Curcumin-rich turmeric
Indole-rich foods (e.g., broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, mustard greens)

These are all nutritious foods that can help with gut health and overall health.

Lifestyle Factors

It’s not just what you eat that can affect your gut. Like most things, when you look at health holistically, you’ll see that there’s often many factors that contribute to a single symptom or outcome.

In the case of your gut, how you manage stress will play a big factor in promoting gut health or resolving a leaky gut. This requires more of a mental shift than a dietary one. Taking time in your day for deep breathing, grounding your energy through yoga poses, or even going for a walk to take your mind off work tasks will go a long way for your overall health. Regardless of how much you have to accomplish in a day, the way you live your day will determine whether or not your schedule affects your health.

Here are some lifestyle habits to try:

Eating slower and chewing better to help break down food better,
Eating when hungry, and stopping when satisfied,
Going to the bathroom when you need to (don’t hold it for longer than necessary),
Getting more high-quality sleep,
Better stress management,
Incorporating daily relaxation,

All of these are great healthy habits to get into, gut problems or not.

Conclusion

To help keep our guts (and our bodies) in optimal condition, there are a lot of foods we should eat (and lots we should reduce).

Sticking with nutrient-dense unprocessed foods is always a good plan, whether you have gut issues, other concerns, or feel completely healthy.

And, don’t forget the importance of a healthy lifestyle like good eating habits, sleep, and stress management.

Which of these foods have you added or reduced? Let me know in the comments below.

Recipe (Gut supporting): Braised Greens with Turmeric

Serves 4

2 bunches leafy greens (kale, chard, collards), washed and chopped
1 Tbsp. coconut oil
Juice of 1 lemon
½ tsp turmeric
2 dashes salt and pepper

Instructions

Heat the coconut oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
Add the greens and a splash of water.
Sprinkle with turmeric and sauté until the greens start to wilt.
Remove from heat and sprinkle with lemon juice, turmeric, salt and pepper.

Serve & enjoy!

Tip: Serve this as a side dish (hot or cold), or add to soup.

References:

https://www.thepaleomom.com/8-nutrients-for-leaky-gut/

https://www.dietvsdisease.org/leaky-gut-syndrome/

https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/leaky-gut-what-is-it-and-what-does-it-mean-for-you-2017092212451

http://www.precisionnutrition.com/all-about-nutrition-gut-health

How Do I Know if I Have a Leaky Gut?

It might surprise you to know that symptoms of leaky gut might have nothing to do with your gut! Things like chronic headaches, migraines, skin issues like eczema and psoriasis, and even difficulty losing weight can all be linked back to a leaky gut.

What’s more, if you’re looking to nutrition as the sole cause for leaky gut, you’ll have to think again…

One of the reasons leaky gut is so popular as of recent is because it’s largely a product of our Western lifestyles. Fast-paced, high-pressure living with lots of caffeine, sugar, unhealthy fats and too little sleep wreak havoc on the digestive system. If you’ve been pushing forward in your career for years, it might be starting to have an effect on your waistline in more ways than meet the eye.

Read the causes and symptoms of leaky gut in this post and see if any of them ring true for you. If they do, it might be time to look at improving your diet and reducing stress as a way to protect your health in the future. Gut health can be linked to most major diseases and chronic symptoms. If you’re wanting to be healthy for years to come, addressing your gut health through diet and lifestyle is a great place to start.

“Leaky gut” is a popular topic in the health and wellness spheres these days. It’s been blamed for many symptoms and conditions that seem to be all-too-common. Allergies, intolerances, joint pain, and even autoimmune diseases can all be linked back to leaky gut.

In this post we’re covering all things leaky gut. Chances are you’ve heard of it, but you might be wondering… what exactly is leaky gut? What causes it? What kinds of issues are related to it? And most of all, what can you eat to help a leaky gut?

What is a leaky gut?

Simply put, your “gut” (a.k.a. “intestinal tract”) is a tube that makes up part of your digestive system. It’s not as simple as a hose or pipe; it’s an amazing tube made of live cells tightly bound together. Your gut helps your body absorb fluids and nutrients, digests your food, and houses billions of friendly gut microbes.

It’s also selective to what it allows past its barrier. Your intestinal tract purposefully keeps some things from being absorbed, so they pass right on through to the other end to be eliminated as waste. This is part of your body’s innate intelligent selection. It doesn’t want to absorb many harmful microbes or toxins into your blood stream.

Did you know? About 70-80% of our immune system is housed around our gut. These cells are strategically placed around your gut to be ready for foreign invaders that try to enter the body through the digestive system.

Absorption of fluids and nutrients happens when they’re allowed to pass through this cellular tube into the circulation. Absorption is a critical part of digestion. The key is that your gut lining needs to be able to select the right things to absorb (mainly fluids and nutrients). Your bloodstream and lymph circulation then carry the nutrients to your liver, and then around to the rest of your body; this is so that all your cells, all the way to your hair and nails, get the nutrition they need to be healthy and grow.

How does a gut become “leaky?”

The gut can become leaky if the cells get damaged, or if the bonds that hold the cells together get damaged. Leaky gut can be caused or worsened by a number of diet and lifestyle factors. Dietary factors like too much sugar or alcohol or even eating things that you’re intolerant/sensitive to can all contribute to leaky gut. Food additives and thickeners like “gums” can also contribute to intestinal irritation and over time cause the gut lining to leak.

Lifestyle factors like stress, lack of sleep, infections, and some medications can also be culprits in this area. If the balance of gut microbes inside the gut is thrown off this can also contribute to a leaky gut.

Any contributing factors that alter the balance of microbes in your gut may cause the gut lining to become more “permeable” or leak. At this point incompletely digested nutrients, microbes (infectious or friendly), toxins, or waste products can more easily get into our bodies.

Scientifically speaking, a “leaky gut” is known as “intestinal permeability.” This means that our intestines are permeable and allow things through that they normally would keep out. They “leak.”

As you can imagine, this is not a good thing.

What are the symptoms of a leaky gut?

Because so much of your immune system is around your gut, the immune cells quickly recognize a “foreign invader” and start their response. This is normal and good if the gut is working properly and not allowing too many things to “leak” in.

But when that happens too often, and the immune system is continuously responding, inflammation begins to rise throughout the body. Once the immune system starts responding to these “foreign invaders” from your permeable gut, you’ll get symptoms or side effects like allergies, food intolerances, and even autoimmune diseases.

Because the first place affected is the gut, there are a number of symptoms right there. Things such as abdominal pain, bloating, gas, nausea, vomiting, heartburn, constipation or diarrhea. Not to mention that if foods, even healthy foods, aren’t properly digested, their nutrients aren’t properly absorbed. Poor absorption can lead to lack of essential vitamins and minerals for the optimal health of every cell in your body.

Some of the symptoms can also occur on the skin. Acne, dry skin, itchiness, rashes, eczema, and hives can all be symptoms related to leaky gut. Even rosacea and psoriasis can be linked here due to their autoimmune component.

It’s possible that even some neurological symptoms are linked with leaky gut. For example, brain fog, fatigue, headaches, inability to sleep, and general moodiness can also be related.

Finally, a number of chronic inflammatory diseases are thought to be linked with a leaky gut. Things like Crohn’s, colitis, celiac disease, IBS, and MS. Even things like heart disease and stroke are possibilities.

What to eat for leaky gut

If you suspect you have leaky gut based on the symtoms above, consult a holistic nutritionist, naturopath or other alternative health practitioner for assistance. While it’s unlikely that you’ll heal a leaky gut with diet alone, here are some general recommendations to start. Remember that the symptoms and effects of leaky gut are varied, therefore its best to seek recommendations from a health professional that are specific to your case and your body.

The general recommendation to begin healing a leaky gut is to stop eating inflammatory foods and eat more gut-soothing foods.

Incorporating a gut-soothing diet means cutting out grains, legumes, and dairy. Add to that list, food additives, alcohol, and refined sugars.

In their place, add in more green leafy and cruciferous veggies. These are full of nutrients and contain fiber to help feed your friendly gut microbes. You also want to add more sources of vitamin D which can come from fish and egg yolks, and also from the sun.

In some cases eating more probiotic foods like sauerkraut, fermented vegetables, and kombucha (fermented tea) can be beneficial. Make sure you’re getting enough essential omega-3 fats found in fish, nuts and seeds. Finally, adding coconut oil to your diet for it’s special fats called MCTs (medium-chain triglycerides and bone broth for it’s essential amino acids.

Conclusion

Leaky gut, or “intestinal permeability” can happen when your gut gets damaged due to too much sugar and alcohol, or eating foods you’re intolerant to. It can also be from stress, lack of sleep, or imbalance in your friendly gut microbes. The symptoms of leaky gut are vast – spanning from digestive woes to skin conditions, even to autoimmune conditions.

It’s important to cut out problem foods and drinks and add in more gut-soothing things like green leafy vegetables, cruciferous vegetables, and probiotic foods. It’s also important to ensure you’re getting enough omega-3 fats, vitamin D, and amino acids.

Recipe (gut soothing): Slow-Cooked Chicken Broth

Serves 6-8

1 whole chicken, cooked, bones with or without meat
3 carrots, chopped
2 celery, chopped
4 bay leaves
4 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
Herbs and spices as desired (salt, pepper, paprika, parsley)
2 handfuls spinach

Instructions