Digestive health is basic to the healthy function of every other organ system in the body. Further more, restoring digestive health has the ability to allow any disease process to heal, or heal more easily or more quickly.
The digestive system, and especially food “allergies” or more accurately… food sensitivities, are a very important part of my practice. I have devoted my career to achieving dramatic and permanent healing in this arena.
Instead of helping people identify the foods that bother them, and guiding them in their elimination of these foods; I help them heal their system of “being bothered” so that they can enjoy a full array of healthy food choices. This affords people the ability to eliminate the “allergy” or sensitivity… instead of the food! (NOTE: This does not apply to anaphylactic food allergies nor does it apply to Celiac. People with anaphylactic reactions should always avoid the foods that cause these reactions. People challenged with Celiac should always avoid gluten.)
It is not a simple do-it-yourself process and it takes time, but people get better, finish their work with me and they stay better. For many, this experience is completely life-changing because food sensitivities lead to the types of conditions can completely rob a person of their life. Getting their health back is like getting their life back!
When food that isn’t properly digested into nutrients for absorption, it will, conversely, ferment (rot) into “endotoxins.” Endotoxins are toxic chemicals that are created when the digestive environment in the stomach and intestines doesn’t contain the right digestive enzymes and microorganisms, and isn’t working at the proper pH. The undigested food ferments in this environment, changing the chemical make up of the food from something that should be nutritious - into something that is toxic to the system.
This environment allows opportunistic or “bad bugs” to overgrow and crowd out or starve out the “good bugs”. This situation is known as “dysbiosis” where there exists an imbalance in the beneficial and non-beneficial life forms living in the digestive tract.
The good bugs (bacteria) actually support a healthy pH environment, aid in absorption of nutrients and defend the local immune system in the digestive tract. The bad bugs can be irritating and destructive.
When your digestive system isn’t operating properly, the unhealthy environment actually destroys the lining of the digestive tract. This scenario has become known as “Leaky Gut” and can drive systemic inflammation and either cause or aggravate a variety of inflammatory and auto-immune conditions. At the very least it will lead to food sensitivities known as “food allergies.” When you completely and comprehensively repair the leaky gut, you can eliminate food sensitivities.
Some of the key nutrients used for healing and maintaining the digestive system include:
Acid stable digestive enzymes, Quercetin, N Acetyl Cysteine, L-Glutamine, N Acetyl Glucosamine, Phosphatidyl Choline, probiotics, and gentle fiber.
Digestive enzymes break food down into nutrients preventing them from fermenting (rotting) into toxins. The probiotics repopulate the intestines with beneficial bacteria supporting healthy immune function, nutrient absorbption and they also compete for space and nutrients with harmful microorganisms that may be present, diminishing their numbers. L-glutamine, N Acetyl D Glucosamine and Phosphatidyl Choline actually help to rebuild the mucous membrane that lines the digestive tract, ensuring proper absorption of nutrients. This is the “back-bone” of the healing process for “Leaky Gut”.
Nutritional therapies can correct the underlying causes and restore digestive health, resolving food “allergies” (sensetivities) in most cases. Anaphylactic reactions and Celiac Disease are an exception. Care must be taken to avoid any foods causing anaphylaxis. While people suffering from Celiac Disease can make considerable repairs to the digestive system irritated by eating gluten, long term complete avoidance of gluten is required to maintain health. Total digestive repair can drive wellness for complaints such as: indigestion, heartburn, intestinal gas and bloating, abdominal cramping, constipation, diarrhea, irritable bowel syndrome, colitis and Crohn’s disease. Health challenges that may improve when you repair your digestive health include: arthritis, eczema, allergies, fibromylagia, chronic fatigue, obesity and autoimmune disorders.
Physician quality nutritional supplements that dramatically support digestive health include:
Gastric Restore – Patented complex containing zinc carnosine shown to quickly relieve many stomach complaints.
Smart Fish – Omega 3 EPA and DHA in a convenient higher dose gel-cap. Documented to be non-toxic and non-rancid (stable)… a very important distinction in the fish oil industry.
Flora Max – High dose and powerful human strains of probiotics that resist stomach acid as they make their way through the digestive system. Probiotics are documented to support the digestive system’s role in the body’s detoxification process.
Bio Defense – Verified strain of Sacharomyces boulardii entensively researched and shown to be useful in conditions where the normal balance of intestinal flora (bugs) has been compromised.
Immune Right – Dairy free immune globulins shown to be supportive in inflammatory bowel and leaky gut conditions.