E05 | A step-by-step guide towards addressing your gut health

Did you know that ⅔ of our immune system lives in our gut?

You’ve taken antacids for heartburn,  or probiotics for digestion, but they have made your symptoms worsen.  

I want to address the root causes of your problem and guide you in following my step-by-step approach to healing the gut lining and bringing your immune system back into balance.

BY THE TIME YOU FINISH LISTENING, YOU’LL LEARN: 

• How to use gut health to strengthen the immune system
• What you need to be focusing on for your gut health and why.
• The “5 R” process for  starting chronic condition healing 

Transcript

In today's episode, I'm going to share a five step by step guide towards addressing gut health that is at the root of many chronic illnesses, including autoimmune disease. That's all coming up next right here on Embrace Your Healing Journey. 2s Over two thirds of your immune system lives in your gut. Did you know this? I remember reading about this when I was doing my research around ways to address my daughter's health issues. She had severe eczema at that time, and I was looking for ways to help her, you know, a gentler solution, a long term solution that was not conventional medicine. The approach of, you know, suppressing the symptoms. And it was really hard for me to believe that there was even a connection between gut health, the immune system, because no one had ever pointed it out to me. And up until that point, I was only banking on conventional medicine to show me the way. And it had led to a whole host of issues. And I've shared that in episode one. 1s The thing is, had I not read up about it, I would have never made any connection between her eczema and her guts because she didn't have any gut related symptoms, or so I thought. But when I looked back later to her childhood, I remember her crying every evening when she was a baby and the doctor said that it was colic pain. So like clockwork, she used to start crying at 7 p.m. and she we would have to take her out for a walk in a stroller so that she could start coming down. And that went on for a while, actually. And that was the only gut related symptom that I can think of her ever dealing with. But that did not mean that her gut health was not compromised. It simply meant that in her body, given her specific set of genes that she had inherited, her symptoms were showing up on her skin because that was the weakest link in our system, and most likely her stomach pain as a baby that, you know, that showed up as colic was connected to the dairy that she was having from around the age of one, like many Indian children. So as the women of the mothers milk, they are started on dairy later on. I mean, initially it wouldn't be formula and then later on dairy. And it was only when her skin developed eczema a few months later that introduced soy milk, which helped to some extent. And it was much later that when her gut health was finally addressed, that her eczema came under control. And this is what really astounded me when I was going through reading about it. That's for so many chronic conditions, especially those related to immune dysregulation. Gut health is what drives the disease. 1s In fact, now we know that about 80% of chronic conditions actually start from a gut. And I'm going to get deeper into why that is the case. And before I get into the five hour process of healing the gut, I first want you to become absolutely clear as to when you need to be focusing on your gut health and why. 2s So maybe you're afraid to eat more than a few foods because you don't know what will set off your diarrhea and stomach pain, or your stomach may feel gassy, bloated, and in pain as well. When you have even healthy foods such as salads, leafy greens, and fermented foods. Or you may need to take an interstate from time to time due to the heartburn that you develop after having a heavy, hearty meal. This is a sign for you to understand that your gut needs some attention, and this is simply because the gut health and the strength of immune system are intricately connected. Right. And and I'm going to share talk about that more. Your gut is also host to trillions of microbes of several hundred species, and these microbes play an important role in maintaining optimal health through many different mechanisms. Most importantly, it acts as a controller of how the immune system in your gut operates, so it actually teaches it to differentiate between friend and foe and enemy. Plus, your gut is like a tunnel that works as an exchange corridor in and actually separate from the rest of your body. It is highly regulated and well guarded to protect you from the outside world, because you bring the inside world with you into your system through your mouth when you have your food. So it definitely makes sense to have this front line of defense located in your gut. And this is the reason why around 70% of your immune system resides in your gut. And this acts like a police station because when you think about it makes sense, you want to have the maximum police force at the border, right where you can have threats coming in from outside the country. So that's what happens. So we have the immune cells located in the gut lining to ensure that, you know, it can protect us against any threat that can come in along with our food. And in order to ensure that once your food is digested, the nutrients pass through and can be transported to the rest of your body. Your gut lining is also semi-permeable, so it allows certain things to pass through. It only allows digested food particles to enter the body, and it keeps out bacteria and digested or partially digested food and toxins from entering your bloodstream. Because what happens if it enters the bloodstream? Your immune system will take it up as a threat and start creating antibodies. However, if you have a breakdown in this lining, gut lining, or the barrier function, then your immune system becomes activated and responds to what it perceives to be a threat. Right? That's how it keeps us alive. That's how it keeps you alive. It's just doing its job. But if this goes on day after day, meal after meal, this would challenge your ability to have a healthy and balanced immune system. And this is what enhanced intestinal permeability, or aka leaky gut is all about. And it's actually one of the three factors that cause the perfect storm for autoimmune disease activation. And I'd be covering that in much more detail in a future episode. So enhanced intestinal permeability, aka leaky gut, can also manifest as other conditions like skin orders like eczema, psoriasis, such as in the case of my daughter, asthma, arthritis, autism, food sensitivities, thyroid issues, weight loss resistance, type one and type two diabetes, and many more conditions. It's all at the root of many such chronic health issues, right? And it also explains the rise of allergies, eczema, asthma, rise of all these issues. So you may have understood by now why a good barrier function is essential for gut health. And in fact, your overall health as disease usually begins in the gut. Resilient health also begins in the gut. However, if this goes on unchecked for a long time with this disease process, if an enhanced intestinal permeability continues, then your immune system is actually just like an overworked police force that is stretched out too thin and unable to do its job properly because it's constantly activated, it doesn't get a chance to switch off. And it's supposed to be appropriately tolerant, right? So it loses that balance and can lead to overtime and inappropriate and overactive immune response. And you know, we have allergies and eczema. And we also have at an extreme autoimmune diseases. It can also but it can also lead to a situation, on the other hand, where the immune system tries to counteract too many things at the same time and it can become underactive. So then in that case, we can end up having recurring yeast infection, candid or other such viral infections. 1s So you may have already tried to take an antacid to help your heartburn, or you may have tried taking probiotics and probiotic rich fermented foods that have made your symptoms actually worse. You may also try taking painkillers to help you deal with the pain, but nothing seems to work. And this is because you have not been able to address the root causes of your problem, which is poor gut health, and you've not followed the step by step approach. That is key. This helps to heal the gut lining and bring your immune system back into balance. In fact, this five hour process that I'm just about to share with you is actually the starting point for healing from any chronic condition, including autoimmune diseases. So what is this five R process? The first R stands for remove. So removing forced stress from our environment. Junk foods constipation addressing constipation harmful microbes food allergies sensitivities addressing all of these. So removing anything that is actually harmful is the first thing. So this typically looks like going on and taking out gluten, taking on dairy, taking our junk processed foods as well as the diet is concerned. In fact, this is the first step that all my clients have to compulsorily go through. Maybe not on day one, but definitely is one of the key factors of addressing gut health. So they have to eventually find, you know, it's support. They don't get rid of or eliminate gluten and dairy from their diet, amongst other foods. This is a very, very important first step. But this many people get stuck here and this is not the end. They are for more steps. And the second step is replace. The second R stands for replace V replacing digestive enzymes. Stomach acid, bile salts A lot of the digestive support that is necessary for a short to medium term time frame for many people. So I had a client who had to take digestive, and actually most of my clients do take digestive enzymes, and some of them also take hydrochloric acid supplements so that they can support their bodies digestion. As I said, you know, it's not as I tell them, it's not important that you are able to just have healthy food. It is also equally important that you're able to digest, absorb and transport all the nutrients into each and every cell in your body. And for that, you need strong stomach acid production and strong and digestive enzymes support. And that typically goes for a toss when we have poor gut health. So one of the you know, the second step is to replace them for a period of time, right? So that's that's really important. The third eye stands for re inoculate probiotics prebiotics cultured food fiber. And in fact this is something that a lot of people tend to do first. And it actually can aggravate symptoms. I am not going to get into all the details here. But there is a reason that they follow a step by step approach. So in my daughter's case, I started her on probiotics capsules. I was making Sardo at home. Caffeine, sauerkraut, even the homegrown pickles are not made with vinegar, but actually fermented pickles can be really helpful. But you need to know what order that you need to take this. Do this in. The fourth arch stands for repair, so the first arch stands for remove, the second stands for replace, the third R stands for inoculate, and the fourth R stands for repair. Again, a lot of people are not just aware of this, that you can get supplements and of course foods that can help you to repair the gut lining. So L glutamine, aloe vera, other miscellaneous herbs as well. They are all brilliant in healing the gut lining bone broth if you can make it at home, you know. So zinc are in a form of zinc. So all these can actually help repair the gut lining. And what I have found in my experience of working with many people with chronic illnesses, that it always helps to have all of them together in a supplement form other than trying to have them each separately. So in fact, most of my clients, 90% of my clients end up having gut healing supplement the many different brands. And you know that really, you know, they take it for about 3 to 6 months. Typically. And then, you know, once its job is done, then you can of course, stop taking it. And the fifth R stands for rebalance, which is about stress relief, sleep, restorative practices, exercise, dietary changes, mindset, all the things that you need to sustain, all the improvements to bring your entire system, your immune system, to help it calm down and keep it balanced. Right. So this will look different for each person. So it will be gratitude journaling it. It'll be yoga for somebody. It could be dance for some different clients don't different things. It looks different for you know, most different people. Right. So this is the five hour process. Most people get stuck in the first hour. So as I said they remove but they don't know what to do next. And following the step by step process is key to addressing your gut tells. You can work with a coach. You can work with function in this. In practice, somebody who has been trained in this kind of modality, and you can bring your immune system and your health back into balance by following all these steps in this order. So you start by removing foods such as gluten, inflammatory foods such as vegetable oils, refined carbohydrates. So all kinds of baked goods, sugar. That's what we do first. And then you follow through by addressing other common contributors like stress, toxins and infection. Then you follow in the step by step manner. You add in the supplements, or you add in the foods that will help to repair the gut lining. So all of it. I will be covering the food part in more detail in my next episode, which is episode number six. Eliminating gluten and dairy did not work. Now what? If you have any questions, you can connect with me on Instagram at the wrong time. Thank you so much for joining me for this episode of Embrace Your Healing Journey. If you love this episode, do take a minute to write a five star review. It would help me to keep bringing more such content to you. And as mentioned in the next episode, eliminating gluten and dairy didn't work. Now what I will be getting into why people don't see results after making dietary changes and what they should be doing instead. Don't miss it. Your body knows how to heal. Are you ready to support it? 8s Happy.