Let’s talk about gastro-intestinal issues. 

Experiencing bouts of gas, bloating, acid reflux, diarrhea and constipation is not healthy. If you are having these symptoms, your body could be telling you that your gut flora is out of balance. This means you have a disparity between good and bad gut bacteria, which will cause gastrointestinal symptoms. Brain fog, memory loss and mood swings can also be related to gut imbalances.

The health of your GI (gastrointestinal) system directly impacts how you feel from day to day. The GI system sustains the body, so it can function efficiently, which means, if the GI system is healthy, so is the rest of your body. The purpose of our gut flora is to provide our cells with fuel for physical and mental energy, to feel and think mentally clearly and to lose excess weight.

Our GI system is an important organ of digestion, absorption of vital nutrients, detoxification and elimination of food matter. The type of food we eat every day can slow down the effectiveness of this structure, making us feel tired and mentally foggy. It can also weaken our immune system. It is believed that autoimmune diseases start in the GI tract and spread throughout the body.  

You may have heard the words, inflammation, autoimmune, microbiome and leaky gut. To truly understand what is happening when you have gastrointestinal symptoms, you need to understand the meaning of these words. 

Inflammation is a normal physiological response by which the body identifies a foreign matter, (bacteria, pathogens, viruses) and sends out the immune cells to capture, localize, destroy and remove the unfamiliar material before it has a chance to invade the whole body.  

Autoimmune means the body attacks and damages its own tissues. The body reacts to an unknown trigger and begins producing antibodies which, instead of fighting the foreign matter such as the bacteria, it searches and destroys the body’s own tissues.  

The phrase “leaky gut” represents a breakdown in the lining of the intestinal tract. This occurs when the tight junctions in the gut, which control what passes through the lining of the small intestine, become inefficient. As the gut lining becomes inflamed, due to food intolerance or an allergic reaction to specific food, the junctions in the lining of the tract allow food molecules to leak out of the intestines and into the surrounding tissues and joints. The body then sees this matter as an intruder and the immune system takes action. This becomes an autoimmune response.

The human microbiome consists of microscopic organisms: bacteria, fungi, and viruses that live inside the gut and on the human body.  It is like the forest flora which supports the healthy growth of plants and trees. We are dependent on these organisms to help digest our food, produce certain vitamins, regulate our immune system, and keep us healthy by protecting us against disease-causing bacteria.

To preserve the immune system, you can heal a leaky gut by finding out what food(s) triggers an allergic reaction within your GI system. The common culprits are wheat, sugar and dairy. Pick one of these items and stop eating it for 1 to 3 months. The goal is to find the type of food that causes the inflammation within your system and there may be more than one food type. Once you find out what is causing your symptoms, you will need to remove the culprit food item from the table to give the gut a rest and a chance to rebalance and heal.

Notice if you tend to overeat the same food over and over. Maybe if you reduce the amount of that type of food you can still have the pleasure of eating what you want without symptoms.

It takes a minimum of two to 12 weeks for your body to begin to heal from the inflammation that has occurred from inflammatory food. Make note of how you feel and what changes have occurred in your body after eliminating a food item.

My personal story is that I was not aware that I was sensitive to wheat but I decided to follow a gluten-free diet. After two weeks, my chronic ear congestion cleared. I would not have associated this symptom with gluten sensitivity. 

By paying attention to the health of your gut, you will feel the benefits of having a healthy mind and body. 

Look within for answers regarding your health and get to know your body. Pay attention to what your body is telling you.

Roe Chiacchio RN, CPT, CDP, can be reached at roechiacchio@gmail.com