Gut Check

In April, Paul and I went to Austin, TX to go to an event called Paleo f(x). This expo started in 2011 and was designed to get people from all over the world to come together to talk about all things ancestral health. It was a three-day weekend jammed packed full of vendors, workout classes, educational/motivational speakers and good food. On one of the days, we sat in on a panel of speakers talking about gut health and our gut microbiome. As each of them were speaking on new research coming out about the microbiome and how it can affect our bodies, I kept thinking about how this pertains to almost all of my patients that walk through our office doors. I decided that I wanted to take a deep dive into the gut microbiome and started buying books, listening to podcasts and looking up the research articles that this panel was talking on. Most of us know that our gut health can play a role on every other system in our body, but when you look at all the evidence, it is fascinating what we could achieve just by healing our gut. I decided that I was going to guinea pig myself and do a gut challenge.

One of the books I read was Healthy Gut Healthy You by Dr. Michael Ruscio. In his book, he talks extensively about different bacteria and fungus that can overgrow into our small intestine that can lead to symptoms of bloating, nausea, gas, constipation/diarrhea, skin irritations/rashes, etc. The chronic effects of these symptoms can lead to IBS, Crohns, UC, Hashimoto’s, weight gain, anxiety and depression, just to name a few. I, like most of my patients, have tried out different diets, cleanses and detoxes over the last several years (13 years of trying out new things!) that would make me feel better at the time, but then would lead back to the same symptoms. I can be so sensitive at times that I will get a small rash on my torso when I have had too many grains or sugars. After reading Dr. Ruscio’s book, I decided to give his protocol a try (while adding a few tweaks of my own into the mix). 

For the last three weeks, I have been following a low FODMAP diet. FODMAP stands for ‘fermentable, oligo-, di-, mono-saccharides and polyols. These short-chain carbs are more resistant to digestion and can reach the far end of your intestine where your gut bacteria can use them as fuel, producing hydrogen gas and can create digestive symptoms. This is a very intense elimination diet. I decided that I would use this diet as a gut reset to try and starve any ‘bad bacteria or yeast (candida)’ that is in my intestinal tract. While following this diet protocol, I also added in a specific probiotic and herb supplement protocol that was muscle tested for my body. I wanted to help detox my body from bacteria and yeast while feeding the ‘good bacteria’ in my intestinal tract. Here are some of the things I have noticed:

-I have had less bloating and nausea after meals. I cheated on the FODMAP standard one day and added in pecan butter (okay, full disclosure - I ate WAY too much of it) and was bloated for the next several hours.

-I have lost a couple of pounds and have felt my stomach is flatter. I did not do this challenge to lose weight, but I feel like I have lost inflammatory weight. 

-I have had less joint pain and my rash on my torso has calmed down. 

I started this challenge for my own personal curiosity to see how my body would respond. I am always trying to work on my gut health and to fix what I did to myself when I was younger (antibiotic use, bad diet, chronic stress, etc.). Now, this low FODMAP diet and protocol that I did is just one way to approach the gut and make changes. I will continue to explore, research and experiment on ways to heal our gut and help each of you along your health journey. Next, I will closely monitor my symptoms as I slowly add foods back into my diet, in order to help decide the next steps of this healthing process. I will let you guys know how this reset worked for me, as well as other gut challenges we will do in the future.  Stay tuned… as we dive deep into healing your gut and helping you LIVE FREE.