Sharing is caring!

Leaky Gut Syndrome is at the top of many gut-related conversations these days.

Interested Since 2009

As the topic has been on my back burner since about 2009, I thought I would finally spend some time researching and writing on it.

In 2009, I did a food intolerance test, and the results showed that I was intolerant to 22 different foods.

Some of the foods I was intolerant to included: egg white, milk, shrimp, lentil, malt, and celery. There wasn’t a rhyme or reason for any of them, and so I worked very hard at avoiding all of them.

What I would go on to learn in the years that followed was that I wasn’t necessarily intolerant to all of those foods, but instead that my gut had become leaky, which caused my body to react to those foods and so many more.

For the record, I’d be doing you a disservice if I didn’t say this: many doctors claim there’s no such thing as Leaky Gut Syndrome.

Former National Council Against Health Fraud president Robert S. Baratz, DDS, MD, PhD, put it this way:

Some fad diagnoses seem almost to be interchangeable. Large numbers of people are scammed in the same way for different conditions, by a variety of practitioners and unlicensed personnel. It is as though there is a “menu” of quack treatments that they can choose for a variety of alleged conditions depending on the patient’s susceptibility and pocketbook and the practitioner’s guile, gall, and greed. Source

I disagree, based on my research and my own life. Something is happening in a leaky gut.

Here’s the accurate distinction, verified against the Cleveland Clinic’s current guidance. “Leaky gut syndrome” isn’t a diagnosis you’ll find in a medical textbook. Intestinal permeability, the physical mechanism behind it, is real and measurable. Doctors just haven’t agreed yet on when increased permeability becomes its own condition versus a symptom of something else, like IBD or celiac disease. (Source: Cleveland Clinic)

You can be the judge for yourself. I know what I lived through.

What is Leaky Gut Syndrome

Click HERE to save this post for later.

In the simplest terms, Leaky Gut Syndrome is when the cells that make up the lining of the intestinal tract become so inflamed that the gut lining becomes more permeable than it’s meant to be.

Your intestinal lining is held together by tight junctions: the connections between individual gut cells that control what passes into your bloodstream and what doesn’t. A protein called zonulin manages how open or closed those junctions are. Researcher Alessio Fasano and his team identified zonulin in 2000, and it’s still the mechanism scientists point to when they explain what actually opens the gut wall. (Source: Fasano et al., The Lancet)

When zonulin stays elevated for too long, those tight junctions stay open longer than they should. Undigested food particles, bacteria, and toxins can then pass through into your bloodstream.

Eventually, the walls that line the intestinal tract become permeable to the degree that undigested food particles and gut flora enter the bloodstream. (Source)

11 Leaky Gut Symptoms

Click HERE to save these 11 symptoms.

1. Digestive symptoms, including gas, bloating, constipation, diarrhea or a combination of them all
2. Seasonal allergies or asthma
3. Hormonal imbalances
4. An autoimmune disease
5. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome or Fibromyalgia
6. Mood and mind issues (ADD, ADHD, etc.)
7. Skins issues like acne and rosacea
8. Candida overgrowth
9. Food allergies and intolerances
10. Inflammatory Bowel Disease (Colitis, Crohn’s, Celiac, etc.)
11. Headaches

(Sources: 9 Signs You Have a Leaky Gut, What is Leaky Gut, Leaky Gut Syndrome: What You Should Know About Your Gut Bacteria)

How do you get Leaky Gut Syndrome?

Click HERE to save these for later.

Proponents of Leaky Gut Syndrome mostly agree that it comes about from various things which damage the gut in general.

1. Alcohol and certain painkillers
2. Pre-existing conditions like inflammatory bowel disease, gut infections, diabetes, complicated surgeries and more
3. Sugar
4. Processed foods
5. Chronic stress
6. Toxins
7. Microbiome imbalance
8. Mold
9. Gluten

(Sources: How to Heal a Leaky Gut, Leaky Gut Syndrome: More Than Just a Gut Problem)

How to Fix Leaky Gut Syndrome

Click HERE to save this for later.

If you accept the notion of Leaky Gut Syndrome (for the record, I do 100%, because I’ve lived in it and haven’t just done research on it), then here are some ways to fix it:

Diet

Don’t even think you get out of this ahead without focusing on diet. An elimination diet of sorts is recommended, and for sure avoiding things like dairy, soy, sugar, gluten, chemicals, and other additives.

Leaky Gut, bloating, and weight gain go hand-in-hand. If you want to listen to a fantastic podcast episode that discusses this, check out The Science of Weight Loss HERE.

And start today! Address the leaky gut, bloating, and weight gain with my proven Quick Gut Detox.

Reduce bloat and normalize weight by getting out of the start-and-stop “gut healing” cycle. In just 21 short days, you’ll be light years ahead of where you’re at today.

Reduce bloat and normalize weight by getting out of the start-and-stop “gut healing” cycle. In just 21 short days, you’ll be light years ahead of where you’re at today.

Begin a Food Journal

I have practiced and preached this for years, but it’s one of the best ways to track food and mood and overall feelings from day to day to watch progress, or a lack thereof.

You could try a Bullet Journal.

Or better yet, just grab my gut healing journaling SYSTEM, which has already been done for you.

Rather track everything via an app? The GUTSY app is the best.

Limit the use of alcohol and NSAIDs. 

Just look at all of these negatives for alcohol alone!

Determine if you have an underlying condition or infection.

Remember, don’t Google your health problems, find out the true answer for you.

Eat the foods that will help rebuild your gut.

In particular, make sure you are getting enough Omega-3’s and when the time is right probiotics and prebiotics.

Supplement

You might need to supplement with things like digestive enzymes, glutamine, probiotics, digestive bitters, licorice root, quercetin, MSM, zinc, slippery elm, and more.

You might also want to check out what I think is the best probiotic brand for leaky gut syndrome HERE.

Eat mindfully and without stress

Remember, so many times how we eat is just as important as what we eat.

Stop eating in fight or flight mode.

Reduce overall stress

Here are 28 ways to reduce stress to get you started.

The 4R’s

1. Remove
2. Repair
3. Restore
4. Replace

(Sources: How to Heal a Leaky Gut, Leaky Gut Support, Heal Leaky Gut Syndrome)

Leaky Gut Syndrome: FAQ

Want More on Leaky Gut?

Click HERE to grab 31 Specific Things to Heal a Leaky Gut.

Want even more? I wrote a book on the topic that you can grab on Amazon HERE. I offer a course that holds your hand through this in a 28-day program. It’s called Gut Healing: ELEVATED.

Xox,
SKH