GUT HEALTH

GUT HEALTH

Gerald J. Joseph, B.S., M.Ed HealthCoach 

Chronic Gastrointestinal Inflammation:

Chronic disease syndromes like heart disease, type II diabetes and obesity are preventable and in most cases reversible by modifying lifestyle changes and increasing activity such as by walking. Stabilizing blood sugar through nutritional changes is the first step to improve your gastrointestinal track, immune system and brain health.

We do this by reducing refined sugar, all grains, reducing and eliminating altered animal/dairy/fowl proteins intake which feeds opertuneitsc “bad” bacteria that increase gut inflammation.

Gut Health

70-80% of your immune tissue can be found in our digestive system? This means that proper immune system functioning relies heavily on a healthy gut flora. According to the US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health, the gut microbiota (bacteria) found in our gut is critical for regulating our immune systems. They also explain that if there is an disruption to this bacteria, this can cause immune dysregulation which could lead to autoimmune disorders!

My co-evolutionary nutrition recommendations are designed as an anti-inflammatory, fatty acid diet and is not considered a restrictive diet, to Ketogenic diet and both the immune and digestive systems send signals through the blood system, which directly affects brain health.

Synthetic Chemicals

By reducing industrial synthetic chemicals found in food sources such as pesticides, eliminating hormones such as estrogens, testosterone (DES, rBGH) found in livestock consumed, eliminating all highly processed foods with added sugars, sodium,  trans-fats (including partially hydrogenated vegetable oils),  and alcohol, is the first step to reducing gastrointestinal inflammation, stabilizing blood sugar, improving the immune system and feeling fantastic.

Grains

The first step to improving gut health includes increasing water intake, and eliminating grains from the diet because of the inflammatory nature of grains and because of their ability to increase blood sugar. Grains today have been hybridized, crossbred and genetically modified making them raise blood sugar at an alarming rate. Grains also were only introduced into man diet about 15,000 years ago, far to short a time for man to have co-evolved with the grain.

Gastrointestinal inflammation

Gastrointestinal inflammation-can include esophagitis, gastritis, colitis – all GI inflammatory diagnoses are named for different parts of the digestive tract that involved area,  and large numbers of white blood cells which are present to counter a perceived threat to the body.

Gastrointestinal inflammation can cause swelling, redness, tenderness, and irritation, while extreme inflammation can form lesions, which may bleed. Individuals with gastrointestinal inflammation may notice symptoms like mucus and blood in the stool, loss of appetite, and abdominal discomfort.

A study published in the 2007 edition of Nature Immunology concluded that allergic and inflammatory diseases may actually trigger autoimmune diseases caused by self-reactive antibodies produced by B cells.

Gastrointestinal inflammation is a symptom of a body in distress triggered by years of consuming high amounts of sugar, grain and animal protein foods which may also contain heavy in metals like mercury, and not consuming enough live plant-based foods which essentially causes you to become malnourished even though you are consuming large amounts of calories.

The Good News 

The good news is that gut health can be improved very rapidly by simple increasing the consumption of clean sources of water, increasing a variety of high plant-based fibrous foods such as vegetables, root vegetables, legumes, whole fruits, bulbs, nuts and seeds, you must eliminate grains, dairy, animal proteins, and by rotating foods. Deep sea water omega-3 fatty acid fish and organic farm fresh whole eggs including the yolk are also excellent gut and brain food.

The good news is really good news because if you make these simple nutrition lifestyle changes and walk a few measured miles a day consistently, (at least 5000 steps a day) you will in no time at all start losing weight, stabilizing blood sugar, the increased fiber will add amazing pre-biotic bacteria into you gut along with no sugar, grain and alcohol, your tummy and life will change for the better.

Unfortunately even advanced centers of medicine fail to draw the connection to the facts that foods can harm the body and yes they can heal the body too.