Heal Your Gut: Simple Steps For Lasting Digestive Wellness
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Episode Summary
In this episode of the Foundational Health Podcast, Dr. Kevin Schultz delves into the critical role of gut health in overall well-being. He highlights the gut's significant contribution to immunity and neurotransmitter production, emphasizing that 70% of the body's immune function and 70-90% of neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine are produced in the gut. Dr. Schultz also discusses the concept of the microbiome, the balance of good and bad bacteria, and the condition known as dysbiosis, where bad bacteria outnumber the good.
The episode concludes with practical tips for improving gut health, such as removing toxins, eating probiotic and prebiotic-rich foods, exercising, and following a whole food diet. With the gut truly being a key component of our overall health and wellbeing, this episode is a can’t miss for those looking to achieve sustainable wellness!
Want to take your gut healing to the next level? Check out Dr. Kevin’s 3-60-5R Gut Healing Protocol!
Understanding Gut Health and the Microbiome
The term "gut" encompasses more than just the stomach or intestines. It includes everything from your mouth down to your colon, including important but often overlooked organs like the pancreas, gallbladder, and liver. The gut is more than just a digestive system—it’s a key player in immunity, mental health, and even chronic disease.
The Immune Powerhouse in Your Gut
Did you know that approximately 70% of your immune system resides in the gut? This well-researched fact highlights the gut’s role as a frontline defender against disease.
Gut-Brain Connection: More Than Just a Feeling
One of the most surprising revelations for many people is that 70-90% of neurotransmitters, like serotonin and dopamine, are produced in the gut—not the brain. This gut-brain connection is crucial to understanding why poor gut health can affect mood and cognitive function
The Microbiome: Good vs. Bad Bacteria
The gut is home to trillions of bacteria, collectively known as the microbiome. This complex community of microorganisms consists of both good (probiotics) and bad bacteria, which are constantly at war.
Ideally, the good bacteria should outnumber the bad to support immunity, digestion, and even nutrient production. When bad bacteria take over, a condition called dysbiosis occurs, leading to decreased immune function, inflammation, and other health problems.
Why “Start with the Gut”?
The concept of “start with the gut” emphasizes two key points:
Many diseases originate in the gut, which can contribute to conditions like autoimmune disorders and chronic illness.
To truly heal the body, addressing gut health is often the first and most important step.
Once you understand how integral the gut is to every system in the body, it becomes clear that gut health is foundational. Whether you’re struggling with skin issues, autoimmune diseases, hormonal imbalances, or nutrient deficiencies, the path to healing often begins with restoring balance in the gut.
Symptoms of Poor Gut Health and Microbiome Dysbiosis
When we think about gut health, the first symptoms that come to mind are typically digestive issues like constipation, bloating, or abdominal pain. While these are common indicators of an unhealthy gut, the scope of symptoms extends far beyond just digestive discomfort.
Cognitive Issues - Brain fog, lack of focus, poor sleep and even anxiety and depression are common signs of gut dysfunction. The gut-brain connection, as discussed earlier, plays a significant role in mental health.
Skin Conditions - Conditions like rashes, psoriasis, and other skin issues are frequently rooted in the gut.
Autoimmune Diseases and Hormonal Imbalances - As mentioned previously, autoimmune diseases often start in the gut. But the effects don’t stop there—hormonal imbalances are another major symptom of poor gut health.
Nutrient Deficiencies and Weight Struggles - When the gut lining is damaged or inflamed, your body simply cannot absorb the nutrients from food and supplements effectively. Also, many don’t realize that metabolism is closely linked to gut health. When the gut isn’t functioning properly, it can slow down your metabolism, making it harder to lose weight.
Detoxification - When the gut is unhealthy, your body struggles to eliminate toxins, which can contribute to a range of health issues.
Blood Sugar Imbalances - Blood sugar regulation also often begins in the gut, and poor gut health can lead to increased susceptibility to conditions like diabetes.
What is Leaky Gut and How Does it Affect Gut Health?
To understand leaky gut, we first need to look at the gut lining, specifically within the intestines. This lining serves as a protective barrier that allows for two critical functions:
Keeping harmful substances inside the gut, so they can be properly eliminated. This includes toxins (like pesticides and chemicals from processed foods), undigested food particles, and pathogens like bacteria, viruses, and fungi.
Allowing beneficial nutrients to be absorbed into the bloodstream to nourish the body. These nutrients are essential for fueling various bodily functions, including immune system support.
In a healthy gut, this protective barrier—comprised of tight junctions between cells—keeps bad stuff in and lets good stuff out. But in cases of leaky gut, these tight junctions loosen, and the gut becomes more permeable. This means harmful substances can escape from the intestines and enter the bloodstream, triggering widespread inflammation and immune system responses.
Leaky Gut's Impact on Health
Leaky gut leads to a cascade of health problems that many people don't realize are connected to their gut. The resulting chronic inflammation and immune system overreaction not only trigger autoimmune diseases but also worsen joint health, increase arthritis, and cause inflammatory bowel diseases like Crohn’s disease.
Beyond physical health, leaky gut can significantly affect mental health, contributing to conditions like depression, anxiety, and brain fog. Emerging research even links gut health with neurological disorders, which further illustrates the profound impact that a leaky gut can have on overall well-being.
Common Gut Health Disruptors and Causes of Leaky Gut
To understand how to maintain a healthy gut, it's crucial to first examine the common culprits that lead to gut health disruption. These disruptors—ranging from medications to everyday habits—can wreak havoc on the delicate balance of good and bad bacteria in the gut, leading to issues like dysbiosis, leaky gut, and compromised immunity.
Processed Foods - Highly processed foods often contain high levels of sugars and unhealthy fats, which feed bad bacteria, allowing them to multiply and overpower beneficial bacteria.
Medications - One of the most significant offenders in damaging gut health is the widespread use of medications. The most notorious of these are antibiotics, which, while effective at killing harmful bacteria, also wipe out beneficial bacteria.
Pesticides - Designed to kill bacteria in the environment, these chemicals also kill beneficial gut bacteria when ingested through foods that have been sprayed with pesticides. This is why it's so important to consider organic options when possible or to thoroughly wash produce before consumption.
Stress and Anxiety - Negative emotional and cognitive effects have been shown to disrupt the gut microbiome, exacerbating issues like dysbiosis.
Environmental Toxins - From household cleaners to perfumes, off-gassing from furniture, and even air pollutants, these toxins can contribute to an unhealthy gut by disrupting the microbiome.
Lack of Exercise - Regular movement is essential for maintaining a healthy microbiome. Exercise boosts oxygen levels in the body, which supports the growth of good bacteria.
Chlorinated Water - Chlorine is added to municipal water supplies to kill harmful bacteria, which is necessary for safe drinking water. However, once consumed, chlorine continues to kill bacteria—both good and bad—in the gut. To protect your microbiome, it's important to use water filtration systems that remove chlorine before drinking.
Alcohol - Alcohol kills off beneficial bacteria, allowing harmful bacteria to thrive, and contributes to gut inflammation.
5 Simple Steps to Improve Gut Health
For most people, gut healing begins with changing their lifestyle. The standard American lifestyle—which includes a diet of ultra-processed foods, chronic stress, lack of exercise, and frequent medication use—virtually guarantees poor gut health and, consequently, leaky gut.
By implementing some of the free and easy lifestyle changes below and taking a holistic approach to gut healing, it’s possible to improve gut health and reverse the effects of dysbiosis and leaky gut.
1. Reducing Exposure to Toxins Toxins from Your Life
Reducing exposure to toxins, both in foods and household products, can significantly improve your gut health. The Environmental Working Group (EWG) provides a website and app (ewg.org) that rates products based on their toxicity levels. By scanning products like cleaning supplies, shampoos, and toothpaste, you can start eliminating highly toxic items from your environment.
2. Eat Probiotic-Rich Foods
Probiotics are live bacteria that promote a healthy gut. Taking a daily spore-based probiotic or even eating fermented foods like sauerkraut, kimchi, Greek yogurt, pickles, miso, and tempeh are excellent ways to support a healthy microbiome by feeding the good bacteria in your gut.
3. Consume Prebiotics
Prebiotics are fibers found in whole foods like fruits, vegetables, mushrooms, garlic, and more. They feed the good bacteria in your gut, encouraging a balanced microbiome. Research shows that eating a variety of at least 30 different fruits and vegetables per week provides diverse nutrients for various types of gut bacteria, leading to a healthier gut environment.
4. Exercise Regularly
Physical activity improves the number and diversity of probiotics in your gut. It doesn’t have to be intense—even regular movement, like walking, is highly beneficial. Aim for at least 10,000 steps a day or three 15-minute walks after meals to boost gut bacteria growth and diversity.
5. Follow a Whole Food Diet
A whole food diet, rich in unprocessed foods, will naturally support gut health. Tim Spector’s research highlights the dangers of ultra-processed foods. In one study, his son lost 1,400 species of bacteria in just 10 days of eating fast food, decreasing his gut bacteria species from 3,500 to 2,100. Avoid ultra-processed foods, as they harm your gut’s health, and focus on whole foods to maintain a diverse and healthy microbiome.
The 3-60-5 Gut-Healing Protocol
If you’d like to take a deep dive into healing your gut, Dr. Kevin has prepared the 3-60-5R Gut Healing Protocol. This 60 day program is designed for individuals who either know they have gut issues or suspect they do. In this protocol, you’ll:
Remove unhealthy bacteria and toxins causing imbalances in your gut
Replace the missing essentials for gut health
Repopulate the good bacteria in your gut
Repair the damage that imbalances have caused in your gut
Rebalance your overall health
Unlike many other approaches that may focus solely on symptom relief, Dr. Kevin's protocol aims to create a holistic, foundational health system. You can download this full protocol for free by visiting the “Gut Healing Protocol” page on our website.
Gut Health Bonus Topics
Let’s dive into three important aspects related to gut health that are often overlooked: the appendix, the gallbladder, and the effects of antibiotics.
1. The Appendix: A Gut Health Hero
The appendix is often misunderstood and dismissed as a useless organ, with many people having had it removed without much thought. The conventional view suggests that the appendix is an evolutionary relic, serving no real purpose. However, research pioneered by Bill Parker, a retired professor from Duke University, shows that the appendix plays a vital role in gut health.
The appendix acts as a safe haven for good bacteria. In times of distress, such as food poisoning, beneficial bacteria retreat to the appendix for protection. This allows them to repopulate and help the body restore balance, reinforcing the immune system. Thus, the appendix is crucial for maintaining a healthy microbiome.
If you've had your appendix removed, the advice is to support your gut health through supplementation. Two key recommendations are taking a daily dose of vitamin D3 (5,000 IU) with K2 and a spore-based probiotic. These supplements are critical for maintaining immune health and balancing your gut microbiome.
2. The Gallbladder: Essential for Fat Digestion
The gallbladder, another frequently removed organ, plays a crucial role in the digestion of fats. It stores bile produced by the liver and releases it into the small intestine when needed, especially when consuming fatty foods. Bile acts like a detergent, breaking down fats so the body can absorb nutrients while eliminating excess fats.
When the gallbladder is removed, bile still flows from the liver to the intestines, but now it drips continuously without the ability to self-regulate. This creates problems for digesting fats, leading to clogging of the intestines and improper fat breakdown. Additionally, the bile duct may become blocked without a functioning gallbladder.
For those without a gallbladder, bile salt supplements are recommended to aid fat digestion. A product like Digestive Complete, which contains bile salts, can help mimic the bile release function and support proper fat digestion.
3. Antibiotics: Gut Microbiome Disruptors
Antibiotics are lifesaving but come with a significant downside: they don’t distinguish between good and bad bacteria, wiping out your gut microbiome with just a single dose. This disruption can weaken your immune system and harm overall gut health, with recovery taking years, as research by Tim Spector has shown.
If antibiotics are necessary, protect your gut by taking a double dose of spore-based probiotics four hours after each antibiotic dose. Incorporating fermented foods like sauerkraut, kimchi, and Greek yogurt into your diet will also help restore the balance in your gut.
Educational and Inspirational Takeaways
Success comes from simple habits: Performing small, healthy habits consistently over time leads to success—especially when it comes to gut health.
60-Day Gut Healing Protocol: Head to foundationalhealth365.com to download the free 60-day gut healing protocol. If it’s not for you, share it with someone you care about.
Antibiotic Caution: Avoid antibiotics unless necessary. If you do need them, take double doses of probiotics daily, four hours after each antibiotic dose.
Appendix Removal: If your appendix has been removed, supplement daily with vitamin D3 (5,000 IU), K2, and spore-based probiotics.
Gallbladder Removal: If your gallbladder has been removed, take bile salts or digestive complete, especially when eating fatty meals.
Lead by Example: Remember, you are a leader to those around you, and the best leadership is through your actions, not just words.