Digestive Disorders

The list goes on and on, but if you have any of these you may be dealing with an unhealthy gut. The “gut” is the term often given to our digestive system and plays a huge role allowing absorption of nutrients and eliminating toxic substances. Think of it as your internal air filter, allowing good in and trying to keep the bad out. When we have a dysfunctional gut, we can create toxicity which leads to inflammation, creating imbalance from the cellular level to organ systems. It is at this point the body will send us signals by way of “symptoms” to tell us that something is wrong. If we don’t listen to our body and just try to mask the symptoms with drugs we eventually run into a bigger problem. There are many things that affect gut function and integrity like age, lifestyle, genetics, processed foods, and a toxic environment.

Additionally, many people expose their digestive system to things like infections (bacteria, fungal, parasite), stress (emotional, psych, or physical), alcohol, drugs (recreational or pharmaceutical), food intolerance (gluten, GMO’s, diary, etc.). As our gut deteriorates the intestinal lining loses its structural integrity and loses its ability to select what comes in and what is rejected. You may have heard of this referred to as “Irritable Bowel Syndrome” or “Leaky Gut”. Now that the gut is “leaky” it begins allowing undigested food particles along with micro-organisms and their toxins into the circulation, triggering an immune reaction. While all this may sound scary, there are things we can do to support the digestive system, both to help repair and prevent. Most importantly there are things we can do to prevent because prevention is better than the cure. Among the many things we can do to support the digestive system, I believe the top three things we need to consider are:

1. Diet
2. Lifestyle
3. Supplementation

The saying “You are what you eat.” is so very true. If you feed your body whole, organic foods as opposed to processed foods, you will be giving your body the nutrients it needs to build healthy cells and support overall health. Lifestyle is also key! As I mentioned before, things like stress, physical activity level, and sleep can heavily impact the health of your gut so it’s important to keep these in check. Lastly, I would recommend investing in a good quality digestive enzyme and a probiotic supplement. These products can give a distressed gut some much needed support. As a practitioner, I ensure all of my patients understand the importance of digestive health and how to eat healthy, live healthy, and supplement when needed. My goal is always lifelong wellness for each patient and digestive health is vital in achieving this.