10 Spring Cleaning Steps … For Your Gut
I ate out a week and a half ago with my family. My wife took the kids out to our local outdoor mall to run around and then eat. She loves the local burger place where she can get a vegan beet burger. I had spent the day at a conference on gut health (ironically), which finished earlier than I’d thought, so I decided to join them. When I arrived, I gave hugs and kisses and proceeded to discuss the day’s educational highlights, while nibbling on the fried pickles and french fries already on the table.
We had a delightful time. We left and went home. I woke up the next day and my stomach felt very bad. Horrible actually. I was bloated and had loads of gas. Do you know what I’m talking about?
Looking back, it was the oil in which they fried the pickles and french fries. The oil was likely soy bean oil. 93% of all soy is genetically modified (GMO) which means it has trace amounts of the herbicide glyphosate (e.g. RoundUp). I recently discovered that wheat/gluten products are loaded with glyphosate too. Glyphosate is a potent cause of leaky gut, as discussed in this article.
Voila. I had leaky gut.
If you have a similar experience, here are 10 steps you can take to help your gut:
1. Eat anti-inflammatory foods. I went straight downstairs and made a smoothy loaded with broccoli sprouts. The sulforaphane in cruciferous plants is a strong anti-inflammatory. Kale works well too.
2. Take probiotics. Probiotics have good bacteria that your gut needs. I don’t regularly take probiotics, but it’s a good “Spring Cleaning” step and it’s what I did to help recover from my gut distress. I took a capsule with a 35 billion count and 15 different types of bacteria. I also drank kombucha. Kefir is also a good option. I don’t recommend yogurt because it typically only has one or two different types of bacteria.
3. Eat Prebiotics. Prebiotics are foods that are not digestible by your body, but that your gut bacteria eat. Onions, garlic, leeks, artichoke, and dandelion greens all have these prebiotic fibers. That day, I ate garlic, onions and kale sautéed in coconut oil for lunch.
4. Take RESTORE. As a full disclosure, I sell RESTORE. I sell a lot of RESTORE because it works. I take a lot of RESTORE because it works. My wife and kids drink RESTORE because it works. And, that morning when I awoke with a terrible stomach ache, I took RESTORE to help me. RESTORE speeds the reversal of intestinal barrier permeability (AKA leaky gut). You can read more about RESTORE here.
5. Take digestive enzymes. I don’t suggest taking digestive enzymes regularly, but when you’re in GI distress, they help give your system a break. A broad spectrum digestive enzyme is best. Over the next several days, I took digestive enzymes prior to meals.
6. Take a break from gluten. Gluten causes leaky gut. It has the same mechanism of action as glyphosate. Remember, as I mentioned above, unless you’re eating organic, the wheat products you eat also can have glyphosate which causes leaky gut. A good “Spring Cleaning” step, therefore, is to take a break from products containing gluten.
7. Take a break from dairy. This will be hard for many people. But most dairy has a pro-inflammatory protein called casein. So if you’re trying to cut inflammation in your gut, then avoiding dairy will help. If you simply can’t stop dairy, ghee and goat cheese are okay. Ghee doesn’t have casein and goat cheese has a non-inflammatory type of the casein protein.
8. Take a break from eating foods that are genetically modified (GMOs). This will perhaps be the most difficult step, because GMOs are in everything. Corn, soy, canola, and cotton are the big GMO crops in the US. Read your labels and avoid high fructose corn syrup, soy oil, canola oil and cottonseed oil.
9. Take a break from conventional meats. Conventional (non-organic) meats are typically fed GMO corn. This means that the meats have trace amounts of glyphosate in them. Even these trace amounts can hurt your gut. These meats are also loaded with antibiotics. Trace antibiotics can also hurt your good gut bacteria.
10. Eat local or organic produce. Not all local produce is organic. But local produce is fresh which means it has more nutrients in it. Local produce is typically safer due to the built-in accountability of knowing the farmer vs. anonymity. Organic foods, by definition, are not genetically modified and cannot be sprayed with herbicides or pesticides. So as you are “Spring Cleaning” your gut, choosing local or organic labels when you’re at the store will be a bit more expensive, but will yield powerful dividends toward a healthy gut.
