Healing Leaky Gut with Acupuncture

Healing Leaky Gut with Acupuncture

One of my areas of special interest and top of my “favorite-things-to-treat-list” is the health and maintenance of our digestive systems. The gut is really the center of our entire well being as it is vast, complex, and intricately related to so many other systems. I believe most people underestimate, or are wholly unaware of, the fact that our digestion really is the key to health.

When our digestive system is inflamed, the lining is damaged, or the gut flora is out of balance, it effects not only the digestive function itself, but also the entire body on a systemic level.

Today let’s discuss how the GAPS (Gut and Psychology Syndrome) Diet can help to heal our gut, and how this diet can help with a variety of different digestive and heath complaints.

What is the GAPS Diet? This is less of a so-called diet and more of a way of eating. It was designed by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride to help connect our brain’s neurological function with the our digestive function. This diet’s main objective is to treat digestive complaints such as leaky gut, chronic gas bloating and constipation, and Candida infection, plus a host of neurological dysfunction, inflammation reduction, and even heal autoimmune disorders.

The diet progresses through a series of stages starting from a basis of very simple foods while slowly adding several new foods at each new stage. The primary components of this method of eating are derived from study of how our ancestors ate and include a grain-free diet, high quality animal proteins, plenty of vegetables and probiotic rich foods plus cultured dairy. Most importantly, the diet promotes the consumption of lots and lots of bone broth.

Here is a list of basic foods recommended on the GAPS Diet: Bone broth Non-starchy vegetables Organic wild meats Wild caught fish Egg yolks Fruit and avocado Lentils Healthy fats: coconut oil, olive oil, and ghee Sprouted nut butters Probiotic rich foods including fresh cultured yogurt, kefir, and fermented vegetables Sea salt

These are the basics but there are extended lists that include a more complete description of what you can eat, and there really is a wide variety. It even allows for wine in moderation!

The following is a list summing up what not to eat on GAPS: Processed foods All grains Processed sugar Starchy carbs and potatoes Artificial chemicals and preservatives Conventional meat and dairy

So here are the basics of how this diet works: the magic is in the consummation of large quantities of bone broth, which is the foundation of this entire program. Bone broth is a time tested and traditional food used for thousands of years across many cultures to heal the gut.

In making the broth, many parts of an animal that are conventionally discarded today are used, including the skin, bone, marrow, feet, neck and other joints. It is simmered for 1-2 days in order to extract all of the essential healing ingredients such as collagen, calcium, magnesium, other trace minerals and valuable amino acids.

These are powerful nutrients that aid in reducing inflammation (joints, intestine, and the whole body), increasing the quality and elasticity of our skin (think anti-aging), protecting our nervous system, boosting immunity, and healing the gut lining.

Maintaining the health of the gut lining is central to protecting our bodies from developing more complex health problems. When our lining becomes damaged, it becomes ever more permeable, allowing bacteria, proteins, intestinal waste and more to leak through the intestinal wall and enter into our bloodstream. This is how Leaky Gut Syndrome develops.

When these toxins leak through the wall, other health problems can develop such as food allergies, skin disorders such as acne and eczema, slowed metabolism and digestion, inflammation and even autoimmune dysfunction.

To stop Leaky Gut we need to seal and heal the lining, and the best healing tonic for that is bone broth. The collagen from the bones is our star in sealing and healing the gut lining and thus protecting the rest of our bodies from harmful toxins that are leaking through. Collagen helps to seal off these permeations and heal the gut lining so that everything that passes through the intestine, stays in the intestine where it belongs.

In addition to healing leaky gut, GAPS is effective at eradicating overgrowth of Candida. Candida is a normal and healthy yeast found in our intestinal tract, but when it overgrows in the gut, it begins to infiltrate the lining as a fungal infection, causing the lining to become porous and promoting a leaky gut.

GAPS not only heals and seals the damage caused by the fungus, it also starves the Candida itself and causes it to die off with an absence of sugar and simple carbohydrates. If we aren’t consuming the sugars and yeast products that the fungus feeds and grows on, the Candida will die.

Finally, the GAPS diet promotes healthy propagation of beneficial bacteria in the gut by eating plenty of probiotic rich foods. These foods help to balance and contribute to the overall climate of the gut flora and keep healthy Candida in check. With the addition of an anti-fungal Chinese herbal formula designed to kill the fungus itself, this diet is very effective in wiping Candida out.

I find this diet really effective in addressing gut related conditions that have spread to other areas of the body and are wrecking havoc. Conditions such as itchy skin rashes, red bumps on the face, eczema, hive and allergic reactions to the environment and to food that were previously not there can be resolved through a winning combination of GAPS diet, herbal therapy, and NAET Allergy Elimination.

Are you ready to find out more about how this program can benefit you or someone you know? Call me!

720-772-8540 INFO@WHEATRIDGEWELLNESS.COM