Our gut and the bacteria living in it have gotten a lot of attention in recent years. After not hearing about it for pretty much my whole life, it’s now almost commonplace to hear words like microbiome, terrain, probiotics.
So is it another fad, or is it an overlooked truth that is finally getting its due? If you are questioning the hullabaloo around gut health, take a minute to read this little story with me.
Imagine it’s spring, and you are going to plant a garden. It will have flowers to attract pollinators and add color and beauty. There will be herbs, for pickling, seasoning and tea. And there will be all of your favorite vegetables, enough to share with friends and family! It might include even include some fruiting bushes and trees. The garden will be beautiful, lush, productive, and flourishing.
You astutely select seeds and tender young plants. You spend hours strategizing when you will plant each one, and where, so they have space and the right amount of sunlight. You dream about walking through your garden, picking vegetables, berries and flowers , enjoying the harvest.
And then, finally, you select the plot of ground that will support your garden.
You ultimately decide on a parched, neglected patch of dirt in the middle of some parking lots. The area is constantly being sprayed for weeds and insects. No cover of compost or leaves is put on it in fall. Salt from the parking lots leaches into it throughout winter. No watering is done when it is dry in summer. It is exposed to exhaust and pollution all day long. The ground is pounded down by errant cars that back up a little too far. Bits of cigarette butts and discarded trash are mixed into it. As far as life, a few thistles and one ant hill are the only things you can find that somehow are surviving.
How do you think this garden will grow? Even with the best seeds, it has an uphill battle.
Your gut is kind of like the soil of our bodies. Did you know your amazing gut:
· Extracts nutrition from the food you eat
· Filters out harmful pollutants and toxins
· Creates hormones and peptides
· Manufactures vitamins
· Communicates with your nervous system, even being called the “second brain”
· Contains a huge part of your immune cells
If your stomach doesn’t have enough acid to break food down well, and your liver is too clogged to filter effectively, and your bile is too sluggish to be released properly, and your intestines are too leaky and inflamed to extract nutrition and prevent food sensitivities efficiently, and your large intestine lacks most beneficial bacteria and can’t generate vitamins and hormones proficiently, and is peppered with inflamed pockets, just think of the downstream effects.
Your neglected gut begins to look like that patch of dirt between the parking lots.
And you begin to feel the results.
The good news is that healing your gut isn’t too complicated. You may just need someone to guide you through it so you can get back to doing what matters most to you.
Here’s the path to healing:
1) Undergo the right tests – such as a test showing how digestion is going, what’s working and not working, and what bacteria are present or absent, alongside a test for food sensitivities.
2) Work the resulting protocol – based on results, I will create a protocol just for you. Inflaming foods will be temporarily removed, creating a window for healing. And supportive diet, lifestyle and supplements may be added to aid digestion balance the bacteria in the gut. This is normally a three-month protocol.
3) Live your life - After three months, retesting is done to see if any additional work is still needed. Often great strides are made, and you may even have to look back at your original notes to remember how bad you felt! Inflammation starts to resolve, foods get re-introduced, the gut works smoothly and efficiently in the background, and energy increases. All allowing you to live out your purpose.
Now let’s go back to the garden. Imagine that you don’t give up on that sad patch of dirt, but instead you work on it for a few months. You add compost and organic material to nourish it. And you put up fencing and plant shrubs to shield it from cars, litter and run-off. You stop all of the chemical spraying, and plant a cover crop in winter. It might take some time, but with a little love and dedication, the soil has a chance to produce the garden you dreamed about.
Take charge of your health by starting with your gut. I am here to help.