In my last post, I described to you a condition called “leaky gut” syndrome and how it can cause chronic inflammation in the body. This chronic inflammation can be a reason why your body is not changing despite your healthy eating and commitment to exercise.
Can we fix it?
The good news is yes, a leaky gut can be fixed, but it requires patience and detective work on your part. One by one you will need to begin eliminating foods from your diet and pay close attention to how you are feeling as each food is removed. This process needs to be slow and methodical.
What kinds of foods are commong causes of a leaky gut? Things like dairy, soy,nuts & seeds, gluten, (wheat especially), sugar-free products (Splenda, NutraSweet, Sweet & Low), night shades (peppers, eggplant, white potatoes, tomatoes) and alcohol.
After you have removed these foods and “detoxed” your body, you will need to begin the healing process. One thing that I found to be very helpful is re-introduce the “good” bacteria into the gut. All the chemicals and GMOs have killed our body’s normal flora. This is where probiotics can help. There are all different kinds of probiotics on the market. You can find some as active yogurt cultures or check out your local health food store.
After your gut has healed, you may wish to try to systematically re-introduce each food into your diet to see how your body reacts.
Healing your gut may not give you a “perfect” body, but it can help you get over the hump and allow your body to continue transforming.
People who have followed this approach have told me that, not only did not know about this syndrome, but that they also never realized how bad they felt until they eliminated these foods. Their energy levels increased, they were getting more restful sleep and they were losing weight. In other words, their body was finally able to function optimally without the inflammation that the food was causing.