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I have 14 ways to begin healing your gut.

{This post was first published on January 2, 2013. It was re-published with more information, but the basis of it did not change.}

Healing your gut, the concept, is simple.

Healing your gut, having the determination and going through the actions, is not so simple.

Regardless, I keep no secrets.

14 Ways to Begin Healing Your Gut

Click HERE to save this post on the 14 ways to begin healing your gut for later.

1. Eliminate food intolerances and allergies

This one is not easy and quite honestly should be done alongside someone who knows a lot about food intolerance and allergy.

The reason is that too often people will do an elimination diet of sorts, and eliminate far too many things (which may or may not be necessary).

The ultimate goal of the elimination diet is to figure out which foods your body is reacting to and/or not responding well to.

Reactions could be generalized stomach pain, skin problems like eczema, general rashes and acne, bloating, diarrhea, etc. There are a variety of symptoms you may currently be experiencing – none of which are pleasant. Believe me, I know.

Really, anytime your body is presenting signals that something is not right, the chances that it’s food related are fairly high.

An elimination diet involves removing those foods during an elimination period, and then later reintroducing them, one at a time. 

Simultaneously, you’ll watch for symptoms that show a reaction.

The process takes a slow-and-go approach.

GUT HEALING FOODS

If you are unable to work with someone, at the very least, consider starting a gut-healing journal for tracking food, mood, symptoms, and more.

Through the use of your journal, you’ll be able to better understand your own, personal gut healing foods and foods/other factors that do not work for you personally.

2. Repair

Then, you need to repair with things like:

• Tummy Soothe
• zinc
• glutamine
• quercetin

All four of these are great for the lining of your stomach and help with leaky gut syndrome.

3. Take a daily probiotic

Probiotics add beneficial bacteria into the digestive system.

1. Oral spore-based probiotic supplementation was associated with reduced incidence of post-prandial dietary endotoxin, triglycerides, and disease risk biomarkers
2. Bacillus coagulans (found in the Just Thrive Probiotic) is a probiotic bacterium that produces spores. Due to its excellent stability, you’ll find it in medicine, food and chemical industry. Recent studies have shown that B. coagulans has therapeutic effects on intestinal diseases, such as acute diarrhoea, irritable bowel syndrome, antibiotic-related diarrhoea, constipation and colitis via modulation of the microbiota composition, host immunity and metabolism. source
3. Two isolates of B. subtilis examined here were HU58, a human isolate and PXN21, a strain used in an existing commercial product. Compared to a domesticated laboratory strain of B. subtilis both isolates carried traits that could prove advantageous in the human gastro-intestinal tract. source

Because I know the next question, the answer is, “Just Thrive.”

Our entire family uses and loves the Just Thrive probiotic.

Learn all about Just Thrive HERE.

4. Eat foods that contain friendly bacteria

i.e. prebiotics.

Remember, this is a list of general ways for beginning your gut healing journey. If you have already been diagnosed with something like SIBO, then prebiotics might not be for you right this instant.

HERE are some prebiotic foods.

I’m also a fan of THIS prebiotic.

5. Supplement with digestive enzymes

Digestive enzymes are critical for most people at the beginning of their gut healing journey because they help the body break down harder-to-digest food. 

The body naturally produces digestive enzymes, but with age and health issues they decrease.

Especially in those cases, having the necessary amount of enzymes is critical. They help break down the foods eaten into nutrients, which will become absorbed by the body. (This is essential because most key nutritional components are too complex for immediate absorption.)

Digestive enzymes help turn larger molecules found in foods (carbs, protein and fats) into more easily absorbed particles (such as amino acids, fatty acids, cholesterol, simple sugars and nucleic acids).

The body can then actually use these particles to function and for energy.

The Digestive Enzyme in our line at guthealingsupplements.com is my fave, obviously.

6. Drink homemade broth

Seriously! I know there is controversy out there about whether or not broth is healing, but I feel like I am living proof that it is.

If you want more information on bone broth benefits start HERE.

And if you can’t stand the thought of brewing your own batch, then choose THIS packaged bone broth.

7. Eliminate toxic substances

Think outside of the food-box, too.

Listen, everything has the potential for being toxic, I get that.

But if you focus on this one think about things like food additives and pesticides to a specific food that induces an allergic reaction from the body.

This can also include toxic people and relationships, household cleaners, personal care items, and more.

Yes, they are everywhere. The point is to reduce as much as possible.

8. Remove stress <- a huge one

Stress is also toxic.

The New York Times states,

Psychological stress activates the fear center in the brain, setting into motion a cascade of reactions that can lead to heart attacks and strokes. (source)

The chronic psychological stress patterns are compounding.

Recent studies even indicate,

The stress levels experienced by Americans are the highest they’ve been in the 15-year history of polls conducted for the American Psychological Association.

The latest report furthermore shows,

This year’s Stress in America polls found that 87% of respondents said the rise in the price of everyday items from gas to groceries due to inflation was a significant source of stress. 

Clearly there is a massive elevated level of emotional stress (and all other stressors!), but the high activity of everyday stress is also killing both heart health and overall health.

No, you cannot remove all stress either, especially when you recognize that stress includes all of this. 

Listen in to my episode on Why Stress Might Be Your Worst Enemy.

9. Say no to sugar

….and refined carbohydrates.

The sugar addiction is real, and if you think this is just a food fear thing, it’s not.

If you’ve never tried saying no to sugar, now might be the time to experiment.

Want to learn even more about the gut and ways to heal it? Learn all the secrets via my signature book, A Gutsy Girl’s Bible: a 21-day approach to healing the gut. Grab your copy on Amazon HERE.

Or, have this book at your fingertips instantly by downloading the PDF now.

10. Ban anything artificial

If you can hardly pronounce it, how will your body identify it in order to break it down?

Count ingredients not calories.

HERE ARE MY TOP 3 ISSUES WITH PROCESSED FOODS, AS THEY RELATE TO SICKNESS:

1. Processed foods contribute to inflammation and inflammation throughout the body causes disease and sickness. source
2. Processed foods are stripped of invaluable vitamins, minerals, and nutrients. They are pumped full of other artificial things which your body doesn’t know how to properly process.
3. Processed foods will make you want more. The more processed foods we eat, the more we crave. We become hungrier, less satisfied and gain more rotten gut bacteria. Yes, it’s a vicious cycle. As long as we’re trapped in this cycle, we’re prone to imminent or lingering illness. In Episode 35 of the podcast, Illie aka recommended a read around this topic, “The Dorito Effect: The Surprising New Truth About Food and Flavor.”

11. Become an unprocessed machine

To that point above, understand how to become an unprocessed machine to its fullest.

Check out where I teach you all about ingredients vs ingredient(s) HERE.

And by the way, in case you were not aware, there is a popular system to classify processed foods that was introduced in 2009, called the NOVA classification.

IT LISTS FOUR CATEGORIES DETAILING THE DEGREE TO WHICH A FOOD IS PROCESSED: 

1. Unprocessed or minimally processed: Unprocessed foods include the natural edible food parts of plants and animals. Examples include: fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, meats, and milk 
2. Processed culinary ingredients: Food ingredients derived from a minimally processed food by pressing, refining, grinding, or milling. Examples include oils from plants, seeds, and nuts, or flour and pastas formed from whole grains.
3. Processed foods: Foods from either of the two previous groups that have added salt, sugar, or fats. Some canned fruits and vegetables, some cheeses, freshly made bread, and canned fish are examples. 
4. Ultra processed foods: Foods that go beyond the incorporation of salt, sweeteners, or fat to include artificial colors and flavors and preservatives that promote shelf stability, preserve texture, and increase palatability. Examples are sugary drinks, cookies, some crackers, chips, and breakfast cereals, some frozen dinners, and luncheon meats. One study using data from the U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey found that ultra-processed foods comprised about 60% of total calories in the U.S. diet.

source

12. Drink a ton of water

Drinking enough water (and then some) can massively change digestion.

Science courses states hydration as, 

the process of replacing water in the body. This can be done through drinking water, eating ice chips, eating foods that have high water content, drinking other fluids or an intravenous or IV line. Being dehydrated is when your body is lacking the water levels necessary to function optimally.

I never fully understood the value of hydration until I watched my dad battle Cancer and go through Chemo. He would become so dehydrated that it would leave him in so much physical pain. 

And, I too know the pain that comes along with dehydration. I do not like water, so one time after two back-to-back half marathons in the mountains, I landed in the ER. Upon being hooked up to an IV for hydration, I began improving quickly. 

Getting and keeping hydrated is super important.

13. Remove!

Completely remove or begin to ween off: antibiotics, medications, NSAID’s and drugs of all kinds.

WARNING: I am only talking about unnecessary things and doing so with a qualified medical professional. I’m certainly not the person to say there is never a time and place for these things. To this day, I take some; I’ve also weaned off of or reduced drastically, others. No shame.

14. Add in more omega-3 fats

They are anti-inflammatory and include things like salmon, walnuts, flax, and chia seeds.

If it isn’t already apparent, I’m pretty passionate about inflammation reduction through food and lifestyle, including supplements in order to heal the gut and heal the life.

I did it for myself and I want the same for you.

HERE ARE MY TOP 6 REASONS WHY MORE OMEGA IS THE BEST TYPE OF OMEGA-3 SUPPLEMENTATION OUT THERE:

1. More Omega fatty acid uses the more natural triglyceride form of fatty acids, making it more bioavailable and easily recognized by the body. It’s 100% sourced from sustainable wild-caught Alaskan fish and processed to remove PCBs, chlorinated organopollutants and heavy metals.
2. It also comes in soft-gel form, which has important benefits over the liquid forms of fish oil available on the market today. The first benefit is that once a bottle of liquid fish oil is opened, it begins to oxidate fairly quickly so that by the time you finish the bottle the oil may have deteriorated substantially.
3. The shape of the More Omega combination of EPA + DHA supplements is long and thin vs thick and round. Like most of you, I loathe swallowing pills, since it was a part-time job on my healing journey. But even though this is a long one, it’s super thin. The thick, round ones used to get caught in my throat so now I have PTSD over those. The way I explain the shape is the way children’s caregivers explain the way they cut up hotdogs to avoid choking — long and thin vs short and round.
4. The More Omega soft-gels have added lipase to the formula. Ready for this one my GUTSY friends?! —> Lipase is an enzyme that helps to break down the fat even further to make it readily usable by the body. This is especially important for those with compromised digestion, lack of a gallbladder, or if you just don’t want it to repeat on you (ie fishy burps, I know, gross).
5. Taking only 2 soft-gels of More Omega per day will help you to significantly improve your intake of healthy omega 3 fats which can have a widespread and lasting impact on your overall health and wellbeing. (1:1 DHA ratio to EPA ratio)

I have been practicing these for several years now, and I am healed.

Healing the gut is a complete lifestyle change.

You must make it a priority, commit to it, and stay consistent, not make excuses.

Healing your gut will reward you tenfold. I promise.

Heal your gut. Heal your life.

If you liked this post, you might also enjoy:

1. Why Can’t I Digest Eggs
2. Master Guide to Nonnutritive Sweeteners
3. Listen in to the A Gutsy Girl podcast show HERE (choose your fave topic, and hit play!)

Xox,
SKH