7 Things You Can Do About Leaky Gut

A few weeks ago I posted an article titled The Five Things You Need To Know About Leaky Gut. Now it would be unfair to post such an article and not give you the tools to do something about it.

1. Test

Before you spend a bunch of money on supplements and completely revamp what you eat it might be wise to actually find out if you have Intestinal Permeability or Leaky Gut. Remember this is incredibly important to identify because a fire in your gut is a fire in your brain, 20% of your thyroid hormone conversion takes place in the gut, and 80% of your immune system is located in your gut. The two main ways that we test directly for leaky gut are with a Mannitol and Lactulose challenge or the Cyrex Intestinal Antigenic Permeability Screen. The Mannitol and Lactulose challenge is cheaper but is also kind of pain in the ass with a six hour urine collection and some eating restrictions day of, this test will also not be an option for pre-diabetics or individuals with blood sugar control issues. You can also potentially get two birds with one stone and run a gut pathogen test and if you come back positive you can assume you have leaky gut and will need to go through a gut repair protocol as well as rid the body of this unfriendly critter. (If you have leaky gut from one of the other two tests it would be wise to run the pathogen test anyways because you will never be able to get gut function back without taking this on). You could also run a food sensitivity test and if foods that you commonly eat pop up you probably have a leaky gut and need to try food rotation and the others items we will discuss next. You can also just assume you have leaky gut with no testing if you have a lot of symptoms, but most people actually need to see the results and know the consequences to be all-in. Also, with testing your family and friends won’t think you have jumped off the woo-woo bridge.

At this point you probably just want to get over your leaky gut get back to eating Twizzlers and Subway, but it is good to identify what may have caused this condition before going into a gut repair protocol. The common causes are eating an antigenic or inflammatory diet, chronic stress, traumatic brain injuries, excessive alcohol consumption, hormone imbalances, anti-biotic use, and autoimmune diseases, and frighteningly usually none of these are mutually exclusive.

2. Support

You have leaky gut. Now you have to do something about it. The first thing you need to do is put in some GI support. This comes in the form of HCL, digestive enzymes, and detoxification supplementation. You have to heal from the inside out and this will not be possible without some extrinsic help. There are a lot of combination products that can be extremely helpful and soothing to the gut during this time.

3. Eradicate

You need to identify and get rid of any parasites or bacterial infection/infestations that are residing in your gut. Different approaches work for different clients and whether you chose the eastern or western route is ultimately up to you, but a lot of people are partly in this predicament because of antibiotic use so if you go there, know that you will have to spend more time building the gut back from this stress. AKA everything has a cost and the cost of herbal remedies is less, but they can also take longer and for some are not as effective. Also, certain botanicals can feed the beneficial bacteria while helping eliminate harmful bacteria and/or parasites. The use of western medicine may work more rapidly, but possibly at the risk of ultimately exacerbating the issue. A parasite or bacterial overgrowth is an opportunistic infection meaning that it is there because your gut is weak and beat to a pulp. If you ever want to break the vicious cycle you need to rid yourself of pathogenic infestations but more importantly restore function so they don’t just come right back. And here we go.

4. Repopulate

This is where you will want to add pre and probiotics. Probiotics tend to be a one-time hit of beneficial bacteria, whereas, prebiotics feed the good bacteria and help us grow beneficial bacteria ourselves. This subject is a post in and of itself, but know that your tolerance for both pre and probiotics may be limited and you will want to take it slow in self-titrating these up. Supplements are fine but you can also include resistant starches and fermented foods into your diet and may even learn to love these items.

5. Repair

The brush border of the intestine should look like a shag carpet with hair like structures called microvilli lining the intestinal tract. These microvilli increase surface area and allow us to digest food appropriately. However, when leaky gut is present the brush border gets beaten down into a Berber carpet and you will need some supplemental support to build that lush carpet back to its previous allure. You will also need to remove the biofilm that forms over the now blunted brush border as a protective mechanism. All this will take time and diligence on the part of the client but definitely can be done through following the appropriate diet and supplementing accordingly.

6. Remove

When following a gut repair protocol one must must remove antigenic foods. You cannot expect the gut to heal if you are constantly beating it down. We use a Metabolic Reactivity Test but there are others. If you don’t want to test for food sensitivities you can also play it safe and remove everything ever (sugar, night shades, dairy, eggs, all grains, soy, alcohol, legumes, and any processed or canned foods). I have not found this to be very doable especially all at once. No matter what method you chose it will also be important to rotate your foods as your body can even be mounting an immune response to healthy foods if they are crossing the intestinal border. Therefore, remember that this is a process and you didn’t get to this point in a day and you still have to live your life during this journey. The average gut repair protocol depends on the damage but should last anywhere from 60-90 days and if you have a pathogenic infection it will take longer.

7. Relieve Stress

The gut and the brain are connected through the enteric nervous system and stress to one equals stress on the other and believe it or not chronic stress can lead to GERD, peptic ulcers, IBD, IBS, and intestinal permeability or leaky gut. That’s right overtraining could mess with the function of your GI tract and further derail your gain train. Thus, searching out ways and methods to minimize and change our perceptions of stress can be extremely helpful during this time of healing.

There will no witty ending here. Your gut health is intimately tied to health of the rest of your body especially the brain, the adrenals, and the thyroid. Reestablishing the border of your intestines to the outside world will drastically aid performance, fat loss and/or weight gain. Yet, if the gut is compromised it would be irresponsible of me not to advise you to look at the health and functionality of these other organs as well. Embrace the journey, it is worth the effort.

By: Ben House, Functional Diagnostic Nutritionist and Ph.D. Candidate Nutritional Sciences

References:

A lot. A lot. Email me if you would like book or article recommendations. It will depend on your goals and where you are in this journey.