Do you have multiple food sensitivities? How about chronic fatigue? Maybe you’ve got Hashimoto’s, arthritis, lupus, or another autoimmune disease. Do you have seasonal allergies? Digestive issues like IBS, gas, or bloating? Then you might have a leaky gut. Now, I’m not an advocate of diagnosing yourself based on what the Internet says, but these strategies can help you have a healthy gut even if you don’t have leaky gut. What Exactly is Leaky Gut? Leaky gut is exactly what it sounds like. Your gut has holes in the lining. Now, your gut is normally permeable. If it wasn’t, you wouldn’t be able to absorb nutrients. But if you have leaky gut, for one reason or another (stress, age, certain disease, gluten allergies, etc), the holes have gotten large enough to allow toxins, bits of food, and more to get into your bloodstream. And since that’s not normal, your body does its best to destroy them. Ultimately, that results in the diseases and symptoms mentioned above. Now that we’ve cleared that up, let’s work on how to get rid of it. Reduce Your Fiber Intake This may seem odd because the vast majority of people don’t get enough fiber in their diet. But, the pathogens in your gut that are part of the root cause of leaky gut love fiber just as much as the probiotics do. So if your gut flora is imbalanced, you’ll be feeding the bad guys by giving them fiber. Increase Your Good Gut Flora After you’ve rebalanced your gut flora, you can go ahead and add fiber back in. It’s relatively simple to replenish the good bacteria in your gut. Natto, sauerkraut, and kimchi (assuming they’re unpasteurized) are all terrific sources of probiotics. You can also ferment your own vegetables. But if the taste is something you just can’t get past, then taking a probiotic supplement is your best choice. Each strain does something different and colonizes a different location of your gut, so be sure to choose a supplement with multiple strains (generally speaking, the more the better). Remove Certain Foods If you have leaky gut, you need to figure out which specific foods are problematic. You can do this with an allergy test. Simply remove the foods you’re sensitive to. Though, it may not be that simple to actually put into practice as the main culprits are usually dairy, gluten, and sugar (sugar will also feed the pathogens in your gut). You could also do a food journal where you jot down your mood and how you feel after you eat in combination with an elimination diet to see how certain foods are affecting you. It’s certainly less expensive, but it’ll most likely take longer. If you do try an elimination diet, be sure to note how you feel when you start adding foods back in. Replace the Bad with Good Yup. In the previous step you got rid of all the bad. So now it’s time to replace all of that with whole foods and meals you make at home. Shop the perimeter of your grocery store and stay away from just about anything in a box. Supplement If you’ve got a leaky gut, it means you’re not absorbing many of the nutrients from your food. So be sure to take a high quality multivitamin until you can get to a spot where you’re able to get most of your nutrition from your food. Even then, it’s probably a good idea to take a multivitamin. Call it your insurance policy. Digestive enzymes can be helpful in the interim as well. They’ll help break down your food and absorb the nutrients. But most importantly, take a glutamine supplement. Glutamine can help heal your holey intestinal lining.
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