6 Steps for Improving Gut Health

Digestion is the foundation of good health, and we know that our gut is our whole universe. It plays a vital role in not only absorbing the nutrients we need to survive and function optimally, but also plays a critical role in immune health, mental health, and hormonal health.

Whether you’re ready to tackle digestive upset alone or looking to balance hormones, starting with the gut is a first priority. Here’s our six step process for improving gut health.

Remove

One of the first steps for ensuring a healthy gut is to ensure there is nothing currently in place in the diet or environment that is a stressor to gut health.

This might looks like: 

• Nutrient-depleted and processed foods in excess

• Poor quality and toxic fats and oils

• Heavy metals

• Mold

• Food that doesn’t agree with us

In addition to this, we ask a very important question: Is there anything living in the gut that we need to remove from your system? 

Pathogens, parasites, fungus and bacterial infections wreak havoc on our gut’s ability to function properly, cause intestinal permeability (leaky gut), food intolerances, and make improving gut health impossible if underlying conditions are not addressed.

For example, if there is dysbiosis in the gut, where a bacterial infection is proliferating, it is likely fueled by the diet, but also requires specific eradication in order to see improvements in gut health, digestion, and ultimately hormonal balance.

When an infection is suspected, we screen for the following pathogens via a GI Map:

• Bacterial Pathogens (think E. coli, salmonella, and otherS)

• Parasitic Pathogens (such as Giardia)

• Viral Pathogens (norovirus, Epstein Barr, etc)

• H. Pylori

• Opportunistic Bacteria & Dysbiosis (10 screened for)

• Potential Autoimmune Triggers (bacteria related to autoimmune disorders)

• Fungus and yeast (including Candida)

• Yeast

• Parasites - Protozoa and Worms

You can learn more about a GI Map, including process, cost, and results here. In the event we find high levels of any pathogen, a specialized eradication protocol is recommended to remove the infection and promote optimal healing in addition to your nutritional recommendations and support as a client. 

Replace & Retrain  

Optimizing digestion in this phase is essential and often overlooked. 

First, we need to replace anything we’ve removed in the diet with more suitable options. Rather than thinking about removing and restricting food types, we want to think about adding in healthy options where whole, nutrient-dense foods replace more processed foods. This not only provides the body with vitamins, minerals, and nutrients, but also the fiber and energy support it needs to function properly. This also includes healthy lifestyle habits, such as swapping eating while working on your computer to eating undistracted, which further promotes healthy digestion. 

Next, we look for any functional supports necessary for digestion that require replacement. There are three big categories from functional support when it comes to digestion, all of which have to do with the breakdown of our food.

Stomach acid 

The acidity of the stomach is designed to be extremely high, and our stomachs are built to withstand these levels of acidity. It ensures the chemical breakdown of foods, particularly protein and carbohydrates, so that they are at the chemical level to be absorbed in the small intestines as nutrients for distribution throughout the body. When this doesn’t happen, these foods struggle to travel out of the stomach due to low acidity, resulting in an extremely full feeling and stomach cramping, or travel to the small intestine where they are unable to be absorbed and are ultimately excreted without gaining the nutrients from the food. Here they can cause inflammation, leaky gut and intestinal permeability, and an increase in food sensitivities. 

Pancreatic and digestive enzymes

Outside of stomach acid levels, we also look at the need for pancreatic enzymes and other digestive enzymes to support the breakdown of food. While we can measure from pancreatic enzyme needs via the GI Map, some signs that support is needed include the presence of undigested food in the stool, bloating, drowsiness after meals, and feeling the need to skip breakfast. We assess this outside of stomach acid as a separate support needed to ensure the breakdown of food to ensure you are able to extract nutrients from different foods.

Biliary support 

Here we’re referring to the breakdown of fats in the diet to ensure we are able to absorb this essential macronutrient. Bile is produced in the liver and released by the gallbladder when food is detected in the GI tract, so we are looking at the function of both these essential organs to determine if support is needed. Some signs that biliary support is needed include constipation, greasy or loose stools, if fatty foods upset the stomach, or a diet low in fats. From here, we can use nutrients required by the gallbladder to function properly and stimulate the release of bile at meals where fats are present. 

The goal with all of these functional supports is to replace nutrients required to assist in the breakdown of food, while also retraining the body to do this work on its own. In the majority of cases, these are not intended to be lifelong interventions, and are instead allowing us to improve food breakdown to get the nutrients required to naturally produce these digestive supports from food, while at the same time triggering the systems to function at the time that food is present. For instance, in the case of stomach acid supplementation, we are able to ensure food is broken down to release the cofactors from food necessary to produce stomach acid levels unassisted, while also triggering the release of gastric juice and digestive enzymes from stomach cells in the presence of food. The body will need this support less and less, and is a personalized process of reducing these supplements with a trained practitioner.

In all of these instances, we can use natural food supports to provide assistance in these areas as well as targeted supplements to support digestive function.

Reinoculate

The intestinal tract is home to millions of healthy bacteria important for the structure of our microbiome. These bacteria play an essential role in nutrient absorption, hormone development, neurotransmitter creation, and immune function. Eighty percent of our immune system resides in our gut, so promoting a healthy balance of beneficial flora in the gut ensures we optimize overall health.

For this reason, while we’re focusing removing, replacing and retraining the digestive system, we also want to reinoculate the gut with these healthy bacteria through the consumption of probiotics, of which there are two main types.

Transient probiotics are found in fermented foods like kimchi, sauerkraut, kombucha, and kefir, as well as commercial products that you can pick up in just about any grocery store. These are hugely beneficial sources of healthy bacteria, however, they travel through the digestive tract and are ultimately eliminated by the bowels after a few days. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Native probiotics, on the other hand, are found in soil and are spore-forming, which allows them to take up residence in the intestinal tract and influence the overall microbiome to spread beneficial bacteria. These spore-based probiotics have the capacity to withstand stomach acid levels (which transient probiotics typically do not) to ensure they actually reach the intestinal tract where they are able to spread beneficial bacteria. They also change the environment in the intestinal tract to be more optimal for the growth of these healthy bugs. Many of these native probiotics can live in your gut for up to 3 weeks, which means they aren’t removed on a regular basis by bowel movements.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Native probiotics are actually the best place to start for most people looking to promote gut health before transitioning to having a regular dose of transient probiotics. Think of it like this: if you're planting a garden and there’s no soil ready to care for the plants, the plants will simply die and be swept away. Spore-based probiotics allow us to build a healthy environment and establish a beneficial bacteria population, so that it can be maintained over time.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

Repair

Is there any damage that has been done that needs to be repaired?

Poor digestive function, whether it’s low stomach acid, bacterial infections, or leaky gut, repairing damage allows for healing the gut to be best suited for absorption of nutrients while also ensuring that symptoms don’t get worse and we heal the problem as soon as possible.

If you have heartburn or acid reflux, this is a sign of healing and repair support needed to promote a healthy mucosal lining in the esophagus and likely the stomach. Our esophagus isn’t designed to handle the acidity of the stomach acid, which is why we experience these burning sensations. Over time, the presence of stomach acid can lead to the deterioration of the mucosal lining, stomach bleeding, or a diagnosis of GERD. 

The same is true for those with leaky gut symptoms, where intestinal permeability has increased allowing for food particles (as well as bacteria, viruses, and other foreign invaders) to enter directly into the bloodstream from the GI tract, mounting and immune response. When we heal and seal the lining of the gut, we promote improved digestive capacity. 

Rebalance

After all is said and done, we have to find the “new normal” for your digestion. Through this process improvement happens, but fine tuning may still be required to determine anything continuing to cause digestive upset. This may be a result of stress levels, lifestyle factors, and anything that may not be serving your overall health.

While healing the gut is an essential process, maintenance of good digestion is also part of the journey that shouldn’t be overlooked. If we heal everything, but lifestyle and diet changes go out the window as soon as the protocol is complete, it’s highly likely that infections will return and digestion will deteriorate over time. Rebalancing the new with the old is important for creating a sustainable lifestyle and nutrition protocol that works for your needs.

Got questions about creating a gut healing protocol with one of our practitioners? Schedule a complimentary consult call with us here.