LEAKY GUT?

What’s going on in there?

www.realfoodrevolutionary.com

LEAKY GUT

The digestive tract is basically like a garden hose.

A long tube with openings at both ends.

As long as the hose is in tact it functions well

Inside our digestive tract live billions upon billions of critters called flora.

Flora = Microbes

These microbes actually make up 90 % of all the cells and genetic material in your body!

So….they must be pretty darn important!

Role of the good gut flora

• Help maintain the health and integrity of the gut • Ensure proper digestion and absorption of food nutrients • Produce some vitamins • Protect us from invaders like bad bacteria, viruses, fungus

and parasites. • Detoxify toxic substance that we ingest or that need to be

carried out of the body. • Modulate the immune system.

Ideally, we put food in our mouths

• chew and digest it.• get all the nutrients and energy

from it we need.• what is left exits the body as a

bowel movement.

Without an active community of flora, digestion and absorption are impaired and nutrient deficiencies develop.

When gut flora get damaged….

The cells of the intestines themselves become malnourished and begin to degenerate. These cells begin to loosen their grip on one another and the

intestinal wall becomes overly permeable… Leaky!

Food particles that have not been fully broken down enter the blood stream.

This is not as it should be

The body doesn’t like it and reacts with alarm!

Immune response, inflammation (chronic) and allergies.

+ The defensive barrier to toxins and pathogenic microbes is compromised allowing them to filter through into the blood.

Greatly increased toxic burden.

Increased Toxic Burden

The increase in inflammation and toxicity puts added burden on our systems of detoxification.

▪ Skin

▪ Lungs

▪ Colon

▪ Lymph

▪ Liver

▪ Kidneys

This is where we tend to see or experience the symptoms of illness. Think eczema, psoriasis, asthma, IBS etc…

What damages the flora?

▪ Antibiotics both personal and heavy use by meat producers

▪ Steroid use including birth control pills

▪ Stress

▪ Poor diet

▪ Infection

▪ Being bottle fed

▪ Alcohol

▪ Pollution

▪ Toxic chemicals

▪ Dental work

Damage to the beneficial flora also makes the gut vulnerable to:

• Opportunistic bacteria

• Fungus like Candida

• Parasitic infection

To make matters worse!

These bad guys can cause:

• Further inflammation and damage to the gut wall.

• More problems with proper digestion and nutrient absorption.

• The triggering of a systemic immune response.

Cascade of Consequences

▪ Because the body systems do not operate in isolation but are interconnected and dependant on one another an imbalance in one place can cause a whole cascade of consequences far down the line.

A Gut Out Of Balance

A Body Out Of Balance

Illness

• Inflammation • Allergies• Infections• Nutrient deficiencies

The Good News

Leaky Gut can be overcome!

And…It is not that hard

www.realfoodrevolutionary.com