What is the fastest way to heal a leaky gut? A leaky gut occurs when the lining of your digestive tract becomes leaky and lets undigested food particles and bacteria pass through to your bloodstream instead of staying in your digestive tract where they belong. This causes damage to your intestinal wall and can negatively affect other systems in your body, including your nervous system, circulatory system, brain, endocrine system, immune system, and respiratory system.
What Causes Leaky Gut?
Triggers for leaky gut range from an unhealthy diet to emotional stress and even infections. Identifying these factors is key to maintaining a healthy gut.
A leaky gut may also occur as a result of prescription medications such as NSAIDs (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) such as ibuprofen or naproxen sodium. These medications can damage your intestinal lining when taken over a long period of time.
Another cause of leaky gut is taking antibiotics on a regular basis, especially with repeated courses. Antibiotics not only kill pathogens that cause infection, but they also harm our good bacteria – probiotics which are vital for optimal digestive health.
Leaky Gut Characteristics
Leaky gut is often characterized by digestive symptoms like bloating, abdominal pain, and frequent diarrhea or constipation. In the worst cases, one may develop an autoimmune disease like Crohn’s or ulcerative colitis.
The good news is that leaky gut can be healed quickly and easily by changing your diet and lifestyle. Here are 10 easy ways to heal leaky gut that may surprise you!
See, Why Do You Have Bad Gut Health, and Here To Tell If You Have An Unhealthy Gut.
1. Eliminate Gluten From Your Diet
The gluten-free diet has become increasingly popular in recent years, as people have become more aware of the dangers associated with consuming gluten. Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley, and rye. It’s also common in foods like bread, pasta, cereals, and baked goods. It’s a common culprit in conditions like celiac disease, Crohn’s disease, and autoimmune conditions like rheumatoid arthritis.
The problem with gluten is that it can damage your intestines. This can lead to inflammation and leaky gut syndrome, which can cause a host of health problems.
A gluten-free diet can help heal a leaky gut by improving the integrity of the intestinal wall. This diet also tends to be high in fiber and other good nutrients, which can help improve gut health overall.
If you’re trying to heal a leaky gut, it’s best to remove gluten from your diet. Doing so can reduce inflammation in your digestive tract and keep everything working smoothly. See High Fiber Gluten-Free Foods.
2. Switch From Cow’s Milk To Plant Milk
Cow milk contains casein, a protein, and lactose, a form of sugar, both of which irritate and inflame the gut, making an existing leaky gut condition worse.
Switching from cow’s milk to plant milk like almond milk is one of those simple things you can do to start healing your leaky gut. What Is The Best Vegan Milk?
But keep in mind that most store-bought almond milk contains carrageenan, an additive that has been linked to gastrointestinal inflammation. So consider making your own at home.
Plant Milk Recipes
3. Stay Hydrated
Your digestive tract is lined with a layer of mucus that absorbs nutrients from your food and helps keep bacteria in your gut in check. A number of factors can cause that mucus layer to become damaged, allowing undigested food particles and potentially pathogenic microbes to escape into your bloodstream, triggering an immune response and leaving you vulnerable to a whole host of health problems.
One of these factors is dehydration. The best way to avoid dehydration is to drink lots of water throughout the day (and don’t wait until you’re thirsty).
Also, steer clear of sodas or anything with high-fructose corn syrup (avoiding sugar altogether may even be better if you’re really trying to heal your gut). Water can also help flush waste from your body. Always aim to drink half your body weight in ounces every day.
4. Eat Plenty Of Probiotic Foods
When it comes to treating leaky gut, there’s no one-size-fits-all solution. A diet rich in fermented foods like vegan yogurt, kimchi, and other cultured or fermented products contains probiotics (good gut bacteria) that can be beneficial for healing leaky gut.
Supplementing with a high-quality probiotic supplement can also be a great way to help heal your body from within. Some of the best strains to look out for in your supplement include Lactobacillus Rhamnosus, Bifidobacterium Lactis, and Lactobacillus Plantarum.
However, each individual is different. Some people may find relief from certain probiotics, while others won’t experience any difference at all. Your best bet is to try several options until you discover what works for you.
5. Eat Enough B Vitamins
Many people are familiar with some of the benefits associated with B vitamins, such as supporting mood, energy, and weight management, preventing anemia, boosting cognitive function, and even promoting a healthy heart. However, they might not know the benefits of this natural supplement when it comes to digestive health.
B Vitamins are essential for healthy digestion and managing intestinal bacteria. Studies have found that taking B vitamins may help improve symptoms of leaky gut, including reduced inflammation, improved digestive function, and relief from gastrointestinal issues such as diarrhea, constipation, and stomach pain.
If you’re struggling with leaky gut or have other digestive issues, consider adding B vitamin-rich foods to your diet.
Best examples include whole grains, legumes, beans, lentils, nuts, seeds, and leafy greens.
6. Increase Your Magnesium Intake
Magnesium can help repair your gut wall, which is particularly important if you’re struggling with a leaky gut. In fact, a high magnesium-to-calcium ratio has been linked to reduced intestinal permeability or leaky gut. It also helps decrease inflammation, which in turn may improve symptoms of IBS and other inflammatory conditions.
The U.S. Institute of Medicine recommends that adult men consume 400–420 milligrams daily and women 310-320 milligrams daily from food sources and supplements.
Foods rich in magnesium include leafy greens, nuts and seeds, beans, bananas, figs, and cocoa powder. Note: If you have kidney disease or are on certain medications such as diuretics or antibiotics, be sure to check in with your doctor before making changes to your diet. Also, avoid taking large amounts of supplemental forms as only 100 percent naturally occurring minerals will work for healing leaky gut syndrome.
7. Get More Sleep
Sleep is known to be an important part of a healthy lifestyle and can help heal a leaky gut. It’s during your deep restorative sleep that your body repairs itself, both physically and mentally. So when you are sleep deprived, your gut is more vulnerable to damage from bacteria, yeast, and other toxins. Lack of sleep also increases the production of inflammatory chemicals in the body, which can worsen gut health.
Here are some ways that sleep can help heal a leaky gut:
- Sleep restores the balance of bacteria in the gut.
When you are sleep deprived, your gut becomes less supportive of good bacteria, leading to an increase in harmful bacteria. Poor sleep also increases the production of immune-stimulating molecules called cytokines, which can damage the cells that line your intestine. By restoring the balance of bacteria in your gut, sleep helps heal a leaky gut.
- Sleep regulates the activity of enzymes that break down food into nutrients that the body can absorb. These nutrients are essential for the healing and repair of the gut.
When you are sleep deprived, the activity of these enzymes decreases, leading to deficiencies in key vitamins and minerals, thus making it difficult to heal.
- Sleep helps turn on your immune system, which plays a significant role in healing a leaky gut.
The immune system consists of both white blood cells and chemical messengers that communicate with each other to stimulate the body to heal itself. When you are sleep deprived, the level of these chemicals is reduced in your blood. By restoring the balance of these chemical messengers, sleep helps heal a leaky gut.
8. Replace Your Flour With Gluten-Free Flour
One of the best ways to heal the leaky gut through food is by using gluten-free flours like coconut flour, quinoa flour, sorghum flour, and millet flour. Coconut flour is made from ground-up dried coconut meat, making it a healthy alternative to wheat and other grain flours that might cause inflammation and worsen your condition.
Unlike grain flour, coconut flour is gluten-free, non-GMOs, and contains no harmful additives. It’s also hypoallergenic, so it doesn’t cause sensitivities in those with allergies or intolerances. Gluten-Free Flour.
Avoid alcohol
Alcohol can be a big contributor to the leaky gut syndrome, as it can increase intestinal permeability and damage the mucosal barrier. In fact, drinking even one glass of wine a day can lead to increased intestinal permeability, which is a key factor in the development of the leaky gut syndrome.
Not only does this increase the risk of food allergies and other intestinal issues, but it can also lead to chronic inflammation and even autoimmune disease. If you’re looking to heal your leaky gut, it’s important to avoid alcohol altogether!
Manage stress
There is a lot of debate over how stress causes a leaky gut. However, most experts agree that it is a key factor. When we’re stressed, our bodies often respond by releasing a cascade of hormones that make our intestines more permeable.
This means that particles from the food we eat, bacteria from our intestines, and other things we’re exposed to through the environment can escape into the bloodstream and cause problems elsewhere in the body.
If you’re struggling with stress, there are many things you can do to improve your health:
- Establish boundaries. Don’t let work and other responsibilities take over your life. Set boundaries and limits on how much you will commit to during the day.
- Take a break. When you feel stressed, take a break from work and try to relax. Get up and walk around, listen to music, or read a book. Do something that will help you relax and clear your head.
- Exercise regularly. Exercise has been shown to reduce stress levels and anxiety. It also helps improve your mood and cognitive function.
- Connect with friends and family members. Spending time with loved ones can help reduce stress levels and promote relaxation and peace of mind.
- Practice meditation regularly. Meditation has been shown to reduce stress levels and improve mental health overall.
- Practice positive thinking techniques. Focus on the good things in life instead of the bad things that may be stressing you out.
Increase your fiber intake
In order to heal the leaky gut, it is important to increase your intake of fiber. Fiber is a type of carbohydrate that keeps things moving along smoothly in the intestines. It also helps keep the gut bacteria balanced and your digestive system clean. A high-fiber diet has been shown to be beneficial for both intestinal health and weight management.
Here are some high-fiber foods to include in your diet:
- Legumes: beans, peas, lentils
- Nuts and seeds: almonds, brazil nuts, cashews, flaxseeds, hemp seeds
- Vegetables: asparagus, bell peppers, Brussels sprouts, carrots, cauliflower, celery
- Fruits: apples, apricots, bananas, blueberries, cherries, figs, grapefruit, honeydews, grapes
Final Thoughts
A leaky gut can make your daily life quite uncomfortable with constant bloating, diarrhea, constipation, and other digestive symptoms. However, making a few changes to your diet can help manage the symptoms and facilitate fast and long-term healing.
But keep in mind that people respond differently to various foods, so what works for you may not work for another. But generally, eliminating processed foods and gluten from the diet, avoiding dairy, staying hydrated, consuming probiotics, obtaining enough magnesium from the diet, and getting enough sleep are the cornerstones of treating leaky gut.
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