The great thing about the human body is that with the right nutrients and methods, the body (especially the gut) can heal itself. As discussed in the last blog, we learned how to recognize if the gut needs healing. Today’s blog focuses on different methods you can explore when looking at how to heal your gut. The phrase “trust your gut” takes on a whole new meaning, when it comes to your health.
Disclaimer
HOWEVER, please note, this does not replace medical advice from a physician or other medical professional. Some of these methods are simple changes that you can make in your daily life on your own, while MOST methods need the supervision of a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist, Physician, or other health care professional.
****ALWAYS talk with your health care team before starting any health, diet, or exercise plan.****
Table Of Contents:
- Heal Your Gut Through Stress Management
- Heal Your Gut With Mindful Eating
- Heal Your Gut While You Sleep
- Heal Your Gut With H2O
- Heal Your Gut With Food
- Heal Your Gut With Supplements
- Heal Your Gut With Dr. Bland’s Four R’s
- How I Healed My Gut-My Experience
Heal Your Gut Through Stress Management
As mentioned in the previous blog, the state of your gut can affect your mental health, but since there is a bidirectional relationship between your gut and your mental health, your mental health can affect your gut just as easily. Stress especially can induce inflammation around that gut, as well as keeping your body in a fight or flight mode that halts gut functions. 1.
Lowering your stress levels can improve many areas of your health, specifically digestion because it will allow the sympathetic nervous system (fight or flight) to take a break and allow the parasympathetic nervous system (rest & digest) to take over. (I went into more detail about the fight or flight mode and how it related to our gut in the last blog. all about gut health.)
Of course, the most important part of stress management is to find a stress release that works for you. For instance, popular methods could be exercising, going outside, art, journaling, and even simple deep breathing can make a huge difference in the stress levels in your body. 2-3.
Heal Your Gut With Mindful Eating
Eat Slowly
Oftentimes, we may find ourselves devouring a plate full of food, and as a result, barely remembering the experience. For For this reason, it is important to chew your food well, to allow the stomach and intestines to digest more easily. Eating slowly and mindfully can also help prevent overeating or taking in too much air while eating, both of which could potentially be harmful to digestion. 4.
Breathe Before You Eat
Lower your stress before eating. Lowering stress before eating can not only help with mindless eating and stress eating, furthermore, it can also help lower the stress levels to signal to the parasympathetic nervous system that it is time to start the rest and digest process. 4.
Heal Your Gut While You Sleep
Sleep deprivation can impact your gut in a multitude of ways such as signaling the fight or flight response, causing sugar or refined carb cravings, low energy levels, and other lifestyle factors that if overdone, can lead to an imbalanced gut microbiome. Sometimes, individuals often like to convince themselves that they really don’t need a lot of sleep to function, however, this is rarely accurate. While your body can survive from little sleep, the goal is not to simply “survive”. Only a small percentage (about 4%) of the population can function properly with a small amount of sleep, most individuals require at least 7-8 hours of sleep. 5-7 …and I hate to break it to you, but you are likely NOT in that 4%.
Heal Your Gut With H2O
Since our body is made up of mostly water, and we use water in almost every metabolic function on a daily basis, it is crucial for a healthy gut. Therefore, without the proper amount of water, we cannot properly function and perform at an optimal level. Hence, drinking plenty of water can aid the digestion and absorption processes. Individuals should aim for at least half their body weight in oz. every day, while adding about 1 cup per 30 mins of exercise or being outside in the heat. 4.
Heal Your Gut With Food
While food may often be beneficial and nourishing, some foods can harm your gut health. Thus, food is one of the most important aspects when exploring how to heal your gut. Accordingly, you often need to avoid foods that could harm gut health for a period of time then have a reintroduction phase to ease back into a normal diet. 4, 5-7.
These foods include the following:
- Refined carbohydrates & sugar, especially fermentable sugars, also labeled as FODMAP foods, (more info on this will come in a later blog)
- Processed foods
- Excessive intake of red meat (this is because an excessive intake of red meats has been linked with inflammation, especially around the gut.)
- Alcohol (This is linked to inflammation and overstimulating the intestines)
- Avoiding foods you are intolerant, allergic, or sensitive to (More information on each of these will come in a blog soon)
Heal Your Gut With Supplements
Though there are many supplementation options that could be beneficial to the gut, these mentioned below are among the most commonly studied. There are other supplements that could be useful in the following section discussing the 4 R’s process developed by Dr. Bland. 4.
Probiotics
Probiotics: help maintain balance in our gut between that good and bad bacteria. If you’d like more information on these, read this!
Collagen
Collagen: a protein that helps with the function and structure of our connective tissue, and can help repair the lining of your gut. Read more about collagen here!
Heal Your Gut With Dr. Bland’s Four R’s
A 4 step plan is mentioned in Dr. Jeffrey Bland’s book, linked further down in this blog, The Disease Delusion: Conquering the Causes of Chronic Illness for a Healthier, Longer, and Happier Life. 4. Jeffrey S. Bland, PHD, FACN, FACB, CNS, completed his PhD in Organic Chemistry, and is considered the “Father of Functional Medicine”.
In this book, Dr. Bland discusses toxic build-up in our body, which is believed to be linked to disrupted immune function and a disrupted gut. Bland suggests that addressing a balance in the assimilation and elimination process may be among one of the most important issues to tackle when it comes to our health. In order to address this, he and his colleagues created a 4 step process: the 4 Rs.
Remove
Remove-remove possible allergens or harmful substances that could be causing the damage.
Replace
Replace-replace enzymes that may not be present but necessary to digest and absorb food properly.
Reinoculate
Reinoculate-add a prebiotic and probiotic to help regain the balance of healthy microflora.
Repair
Repair-take a supplement of nutrients to support healing of the gut lining, specifically zinc, pantothenic acid, omega-3 fish oils, amino acids, magnesium, and a b-complex. 4.
You can view Dr. Bland’s website here, and/or purchase his book here.
(These links are not affiliated links and this item is not sponsored.)
How I Healed My Gut-My Experience
My experience was actually very similar to Dr. Bland’s 4 step plan mentioned above. I worked with a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist for about 10 weeks. I completed 2 phases of a very strict elimination diet while including supplements to aid in a healthy microbiome, digestion, and healing of the gut. Normally, with a healthy gut, these supplements are not needed, however, when the microbiome is unbalanced, these supplements helped aid in the areas in which my body was lacking. Each of these supplements mentioned were recommendations from my RDN, and I purchased all of them through Wellevate.com.
The 4 R’s
Remove
- Phase 1 (at least 2 Weeks): This consisted of eliminating high FODMAP foods completely as well as other possible triggering foods such as thouse mentioned above.
- Phase 2 (about 8 Weeks): This was the reintroductory phase where I tested each subgroup of the FODMAPs to see if certain foods triggered my symptoms.
Replace
- In order to achieve this stage of the 4R’s, I used 2 supplements recommended by the RDN that I worked with. These supplements were mostly important during phase 1 of the diet.
- 1. L-Glutamine, Deglycyrrhizinized Licorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra) Root Extract, and Aloe (Aloe barbadensis) Decolorized Inner Leaf Gel Powder
- 2. A digestive supplement with many different enzymes to aid in digestion
Reinoculate:
- To help regain good and balanced bacteria in the gut, I took a prebiotic/probioitc supplement daily. (also recommended to me by the RDN)
Repair:
- I did take a magnesium supplement to aid in repairing process, but did not take any of the other supplements recommended by Dr. Bland.
Other Notes About My Experience
Timing: I also want to note that the timing of this healing was just as crucial as the steps I took. I did this during the summer to one, allow myself more time to cook and prepare each of my meals, and two, allow myself to fully focus on healing my body, rather than the stresses of life and school. I also had plenty of support and help from my husband (fiance at the time) and my family! This diet is very difficult and very restrictive, so again, I urge you not to partake in this journey without the supervision and guidance of a medical professional such as a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN).
Use this link here to find an RDN near you!
In Conclusion…
There are a lot of simple things you can do to help your gut, but truly healing it takes a lot of hard work. The way I healed mine, was more extreme, and under the supervision of a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist, but it did work, and I feel like my health has improved in numerous ways such as the following:
- I learned what foods I’m sensitive to.
- I’m no longer experiencing digestive issues (unless I eat those foods I am sensitive to)
- More Energy
- Less brain fog & better concentration
- Better control over inflammation & bloating (unless, again, I eat one of those foods I am sensitive to)
I definitely would recommend looking into healing your gut BUT ONLY with the supervision of a dietitian, physician, or health care team member that is qualified in this area! Not only can doing this alone without supervision lead to higher risks of complications but gut health and dysbiosis may not even be the underlying issue for your symptoms. Because of this, it is so important for you to talk with a health care professional to see if healing your gut is something to consider.
Didn’t find what you were looking for? Ask your specific nutrition question(s) here!
Disclaimer
***Always consult your physician or healthcare team before beginning any exercise or diet program. This information is not intended to diagnose or treat any medical condition or to replace your healthcare professional’s advice and instruction. Consult with your healthcare professional to see what is right for you.***
Sources
- Fleshner M. Bidirectional gut‐microbial mediated‐brain signaling: A new player in stress physiology? (Commentary on O’Mahony et al., 2019). European Journal of Neuroscience. 2019;52(5):3487-3489. doi:10.1111/ejn.14587
- Perciavalle V, Blandini M, Fecarotta P, et al. The role of deep breathing on stress. Neurological Sciences. 2016;38(3):451-458. doi:10.1007/s10072-016-2790-8
- Fleshner M. Bidirectional gut‐microbial mediated‐brain signaling: A new player in stress physiology? (Commentary on O’Mahony et al., 2019). European Journal of Neuroscience. 2019;52(5):3487-3489. doi:10.1111/ejn.14587
- Bland J. The Disease Delusion: Conquering the Causes of Chronic Illness for a Healthier, Longer, and Happier Life. New York: HarperWave, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers; 2015.
- Konkel L. What Is Your Gut Telling You? Exploring the Role of the Microbiome in Gut–Brain Signaling. Environmental Health Perspectives. 2018;126(6):062001. doi:10.1289/ehp3127
- Aslam H, Green J, Jacka FN, et al. Fermented foods, the gut and mental health: A mechanistic overview with implications for depression and anxiety. Nutritional Neuroscience. 2018;23(9):659-671. doi:10.1080/1028415x.2018.1544332
- Wingate D. Stress and common gastrointestinal disorders: a comprehensive approach. Gut. 1986;27(6):748-748. doi:10.1136/gut.27.6.748