Keystone to Your Health - Your GI Tract

Ever think that staying healthy and feeling good should be simple?

Well it can be as simple as a balanced, functioning GI tract. Think about it…you can’t function well or live long without food and water. If your GI system is not working well, your ability to process and utilize the food you eat is compromised. If you cannot use the food you eat your health will suffer. It’s that simple! Did you know that 90% of Serotonin is produced in the gut? More than half of the total neurons in your body are located in the gut! This gives new meaning and relevance to having a “Gut Feeling”, doesn’t it? If your gut is not healthy it can affect your sense of well-being, overall energy levels, and all of your other bodily systems! It’s central to survival and affects every other system in YOU. You simply cannot be healthy without a functioning, balanced GI system.

Take a moment to read and learn about the keys to a healthy GI tract...

Flora Balance

Central to the health of your gut is the existence of Bacteria. Bacteria live in your gut and assist your body in breaking down food, maintaining pH in its healthy range, and optimizing the function of your entire Gastro-Intestinal tract. When this is working properly, life can be very good. When it is not, you will suffer. The GI tract can get out of balance. The sugary, convenience, fast-food eating habits in the USA, and quick-paced, stressful lifestyle are huge components of GI issues. Not only do they compromise your health due to lack of quality nutrients, they change the pH in your body which can throw your whole system off. Also, too much Alcohol has the same effect in your body as bad food. However, one of the main (and overlooked) culprits is infection. Not only infection of the GI tract, but other types of infection in the body. For example, let’s say that you are exposed to someone with Strep Throat and become sick. Taking Antibiotics prescribed to kill the Strep bacteria also kill off all of the good bacteria in your system. This affects your pH, and opens you up to more infections. Not only can fungus/yeast grow without impediment, but bad/harmful bacteria can grow more readily and cause further issues. Without a healthy population of good bacteria, the bad bacteria can multiply rapidly and take over your GI Tract. This causes your gut to cease to work properly, and therefore you cannot break down food or absorb it very well for use as fuel. A daily regimen of live probiotic cultures is key to maintaining the correct Flora balance for your health.

pH Balance

Having a pH balance in normal range is necessary for all of the functions in your body to take place. Without it, function breaks down and health deteriorates. Change in normal pH levels can promote a healthy environment for pathogens such as bad bacteria, yeast/fungus, and parasites. It also creates an UN-healthy environment for good bacteria which assist in breaking down your food and keeping you healthy while battling the GI pathogens. Your stomach needs a strongly acidic environment to break down food and stay healthy. If the pH is too high (alkaline) the Esophageal Sphincter at the top of your stomach will open and allow acid into your throat (GERD). It’s best to have a strong acidic environment in your stomach. Antacids cause real issue with this balance and can render your food indigestible. Instead, take a strong digestive enzyme or a form of Gut HCL when you feel any acid reflux or stomach upset. The additional acid will only help alleviate your symptoms.

In contrast to your stomach, your Small Intestine and Colon need to maintain an Alkaline balance (high pH) to complete digestion and remove water from your intestines back into your body. Bile, which is normally released from your Gallbladder into the small intestine, raises the pH in the intestinal areas to help them function property. When pH is too low in this area it causes issues in completing digestion which affects your ability to absorb your food and excrete waste products. Additionally, a low pH (acidic) in the small/large intestine can cause Leaky Gut Syndrome. This is because the acidic environment is inflammatory to these tissues, causing the cells to widen and allow large, undigested food particles into your body. The leakage, in turn causes more inflammation and sets off a vicious cycle. Pathogens play a large role in pH and can be the cause of deviations.

Motility

Lack of motility causes toxins to sit in the GI tract too long. After a while, they reabsorb back into bloodstream. This helps to create an environment friendly to pathogens. It also creates pressure that can lead to hemorrhoids. Most causes are usually related to bad diet, infection, and dehydration. Over time this creates an unhealthy bowel.

Water: Lack of water can lead to dehydration which can cause constipation, and decrease your body’s ability to remove toxins. Aim to drink half your body weight in ounces of water daily. Alkaline water is best for proper pH.

Parasites

We are all exposed to parasites in our life.

Unfortunately, most Western medicine doctors fail to recognize how common this is, and fail to diagnose it in patients. Left untreated this can compromise your immune system which creates the opportunity for more infections. I have struggled with this exact issue myself, and finding an appropriate doctor is key to getting well. Most of the mainstream tests administered to find parasites are sorely lacking in sophistication and results. Additionally, the labs they are sent to are not geared to understanding this particular segment of disease and can misunderstand what they are looking at. If they are able to detect anything it is usually an antigen, which means you could have been exposed at some point to parasites. This offers no good evidence of active infection. Tests that look for parasite eggs are often not sophisticated enough to truly detect them. Acute infections tend to be easier to diagnose. Chronic parasite infections are very tricky. Depending on the parasite in question, the egg test for active infection can be very inaccurate. Also, there are parasites from around the world alive and well in all countries because the travel industry is booming. Restaurants and food chains are increasingly importing food from overseas which can contain parasites not indigenous to the USA. Often times, the infection goes unnoticed and may not be terribly harmful to the host. BUT, there are some very dangerous pathogens out there that can wreak havoc on your gut, organs, circulatory/lymph systems, and cause systemic ailments including cancer and permanent cysts within organs. Sometimes the cysts are not harmful since your body is using the mechanism to contain the invader. Other times, the cysts impinge on organ tissues and even blood supplies and the results can be disastrous. I have this particular issue myself. Some of the cysts in my liver are too close to my portal vein and cause pressure within the hepatic system. Finding an appropriate physician is key to recovering your health. There is a highly credible doctor who engages with the 1 testing facility that can properly diagnose these infections. The supplementation created by this man is very sophisticated and generally well-tolerated by patients. If you suspect that you have a parasite, please visit: ParasiteTesting.com. I have had great results with this particular formulation with much less discomfort than other remedies.

Fungus/Mold/Yeast

A certain amount of yeast should be present in our GI tract. But today’s sugary, doughy diet feeds these lifeforms and can help them grow in your system. Antibiotic use is a huge cause of fungal/yeast overgrowth. The antibiotics wipe out all flora in your gut, but do NOT affect the fungus and yeast. Once the good bacteria are out of the way, these potential pathogens have a green light to multiply and change the environment in your GI tract. As they grow, the pH in your body changes which creates the perfect environment for bad bacteria, parasites, and other infection to grow. It’s a vicious cycle and a cause of many forms of illness including Leaky Gut syndrome. If you are sensitive and/or reactive to sugar, alcohol, dairy and bread products there is a good chance that you have some type of fungal/yeast overgrowth. Symptoms are swelling and bloating upon eating (sometimes pain), fatigue, brain fog, flatulence, feeling overly full during/after meals, and changes in bowel habits. If these are affecting your life it is important to address the issue. Standard Western Medicine medications for this do not rectify the issue. You must first cut out all of the food listed above, and then begin taking a strong, natural anti-fungal supplement such as Oregano oil, Caprylic acid, Gut Flora Complex (Standard Process brand), Candicid Forte (Ortho-molecular brand), or Fungal Defense (Garden of Life). It can take weeks to months to rebalance your system from this overgrowth, and may require rotation of the above supplements to ensure all strains of the pathogen are being addressed. It is also paramount to start yourself on a probiotic program to populate your gut with good flora which helps to crowd out the pathogens. You will likely get a die-off reaction (swelling, bloating, nausea, flatulence) while dealing with rebalancing your gut.

Although this is uncomfortable, it will pass. Mold exposure in its many forms is truly becoming a huge issue in the USA.

Medical Conditions:

GERD: This is a condition…NOT a disease. It is caused by the pH in your stomach being too high. Your stomach needs a very low pH, highly acidic environment to function well. When the pH is not low and acidic enough, the flap (esophageal sphincter) between your esophagus and stomach will open. This releases stomach acid into your throat and can be very painful, uncomfortable and annoying. Eventually, this can damage your esophagus if not addressed properly. Often times, patients are prescribed something to counteract the acid or lower stomach acid production, which only puts a Band-Aid on the problem rather than addressing the solution. The key is lowering the pH enough to keep the sphincter closed. Usually the pH is abnormal due to infection or medication. Sometimes a sugary diet will change the pH enough to allow infection to occur and this can cause GERD. The key is to identify the cause and solve it. Addressing an infection, and then rebalancing the Gut with probiotics usually solves the GERD issue over time. Natural pH balance is restored with a healthy community of good bacteria.

Leaky Gut Syndrome

This is also NOT a disease. It’s a very damaging condition, and can cause a massive inflammatory response in the body. Just as in GERD, this is pH related. The Small intestine should have High pH and be Alkaline in nature. Infections, antibiotics, sugary/doughy diet can cause the pH to lower and make the environment in the small intestine more acidic. The acid is an inflammatory trigger in the small intestine which causes the endothelial cells to open. When these cells open they release undigested food into the abdominal cavity and blood/lymph system. They can also release infective agents such as bad bacteria, parasite, and even fungus/yeast into your system. This is a huge cause for an immune system reaction to try and contain the “invaders”. This process can cause your immune system to attack you unwittingly. It is actively fighting against perceived invaders in the form of undigested food and pathogens, and if left unchecked without resolution this can lead to chronic inflammation. Long-term chronic inflammation can also lead to auto-immune function within the body. You can see how this issue can spiral out of control and cause serious health issues. The key, again, is identifying the cause of the condition and addressing it. Contain the invader or eating issue, resolve the pH and rebalance your gut flora.

Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Colitis, and Crohn’s disease are all examples of the inflammatory response in the GI system. They typically stem from infection and imbalance of the gut and continue to get worse over time as the cause of the issue is not addressed. They can also occur with exposure to toxins and/or poisons.

What is to be done?

The key here is to be your best advocate! Inform yourself, and then set out to locate a practitioner who specializes in this area. I must warn you that GI Doctors do not typically address these types of issues. Having visited several of them, along with countless other doctors and 2 Infectious Disease Specialists, I was disappointed to discover they miss a lot of these problems and/or they are not using the right tests to diagnose the actual cause of illness.

I have had my best luck with Natural Medicine practitioners. That is how I discovered PCI: Parasitology Center, Inc. My Natural Medicine Doctor is aware of PCI and utilizes them to help his clients. Natural/Integrated Health practitioners not only address parasite infections, but they are versed in working with mold exposure, serious illnesses and conditions, and other system imbalances as well. Many times, a basic system imbalance with a simple cause is the root of long-term disease and illness. Identifying this and addressing it is required in order to heal yourself.

As you can see, Gastro-intestinal health is central to having highly functioning bodily systems. A healthy GI tract is required in order to have a healthy YOU. Take the time to notice your GI health, and do not give up in locating a health practitioner who is knowledgeable, experienced in your area, and who will work to find the cause of illness you are dealing with. Do not take GI issues lightly as they can affect your entire bodily system. Healthy, balanced GI system is the keystone of your health and well-being.

Please feel free to contact me to ask questions about locating a good practitioner for Natural Health.

As always, I wish you good health and encourage you to reach out and ask questions if needed!