Emerging out of the grey of a slow, cold winter, for many of us rather than feeling the joys of spring, we’re feeling heavy and sluggish and have been sick, actually… really sick.

70-80% of our immunity lies in our gut, so a significant part of staying healthy is about a healthy gut.

Healing the gut is the number 1 focus for healing everything … almost.  While it’s not the only consideration, the health of the gut must be the number 1 consideration.  

Our kids and I have all been diagnosed with gut issues i.e. leaky gut and nasty parasitic infections, yet without obvious symptoms.    My daughter, however, had very bad eczema as a baby and my energy and immune system literally crashed when the children were little ones.

Symptoms I now know were linked to poor gut function and other imbalances.

You might be thinking, ‘I’m healthy!  Why have I got gut issues?’

We’re all work in progress, but I reckon I’ve had gut issues for a while, and the health of my gut and my husbands’ has affected the health of our childrens’.

For me personally, the following may have contributed;

• my favourite breakfast as a kid i.e. a bowl of cornflakes or a piece of vegemite toast most mornings.  Sounds familiar doesn’t it?  This post, ‘breakfast the food that makes billions‘ explains more.
• being unaware of exposures to chemicals or other toxins in my environment and in my food.
• I haven’t had many antibiotics, but do remember as a kid having them for approx. 2 weeks for an illness the doctors thought may have been scarlet fever … no such thing as prescribing probiotics in those days.  More info in this post.
• playing with a broken mercury thermometer and being captivated by the toxic, silver ‘bubble’ rolling around in the palm of my hand.  The dangers associated with this explained in this post.
• amalgam fillings in my teeth.
• inhaling car fumes before ‘leaded’ petrol was banned.
• not knowing any better and enjoying poor dietary choices in my youth.
• exposure to other chemicals like DDT until they were banned.
• inheriting an accumulating toxic load of chemicals and heavy metals from my ancestors (not just our parents), and as we have continued to pass onto our children – non the wiser.

Other factors contributing to gut dysfunction;

• emotional stress.
• physical stress.
• medications and contraception.
• low stomach acid.
• caesarians at birth.
• lack of sleep.
• chemicals in beauty, personal hygiene and cleaning products.
• plastics and so much more.

Unknowingly many children are starting life with compromised gut function. If parents haven’t actively detoxed for heavy metals and rebuilt their microbiome, our kids are inheriting a handsome dose of toxins and an under performing gut flora that can quickly set the scene for gut dysfunction, malabsorption, autoimmune and inflammatory disease.   

I don’t like to be the bearer of bad news, but it’s a reality and far better to know and to do something about it sooner than later.

And there is good news!  The gut will heal and so will the body.

Have a listen to my gorgeous client, Callie and her inspiring story.   Cal shares how she helped her 3 year old son, Bowen recover from a severe allergy to eggs.  How she trusted her mothers instinct and her number 1 tip for creating a healthy home. 

When the gut is functioning well, the foreigners i.e. toxins, heavy metals, parasites, viruses, bacteria etc. can pass right on through, while the body naturally does its thing.

Are you dealing with a form of gut dysfunction?  Or perhaps you are but you don’t know you are.   It’s highly likely. 

Other than the obvious gut symptoms e.g. irritable bowel, reflux etc.  Other clues / symptoms to consider;

• low stomach acid or reflux
• allergies
• irritability and mood swings
• pms and hormonal imbalance
• thyroid illness
• low energy
• low libido
• skin irritations
• anxiety and depression etc etc.

Unless you’ve already identified an issue and taken action to restore it, it’s time to start rebuilding your gut health, gently, gradually, one step at a time and help safeguard your future wellbeing.

It doesn’t have to be difficult and the earlier you take action the better.

Learn more about protecting and restoring your gut health at my next Enriched Living Workshop, ‘Gut Health.  Simple steps to healthy digestion & a long life’    We’re going on a fun and informative journey of the digestive system.  You’ll learn commonly missed aspects to great gut health, plus lots of ideas for recipes and remedies to begin repairing your gut and your families.  Simply.  Naturally.

Seats are limited.  Register ASAP.

And have a listen to Callie’s story.

HOPE:  ‘A feeling of expectation and desire for a particular thing to happen’.  

… and one of the BEST four letter words in our vocabulary.  When we believe there is HOPE or expectation for something to happen,  it is far more likely that it will happen.  Without hope we give up, ‘there is no hope’.  It is one of the most important feelings I believe we can nurture both within ourselves and within those around us.

Sometimes when we are ill or loved ones are ill or have been given a diagnosis it is hard to have hope, especially when we’re told ‘there’s nothing you can do’, as we were told when our daughters foot stopped developing.   But the one thing we always had was hope & a strong belief in the bodies innate ability to heal, given the right tools and fuels.

Which brings me to my favourite topic – Our Guts!

Hippocrates said, ‘All disease begins in the gut’.  

If our gut is the cause of all disease, maybe we can fix it?  When we consider this, it’s empowering and gives hope.   We know it’s important to ‘Go with our Gut’.  Now  there’s even more reason before to… ‘Go with our Gut’.

2 Things Necessary for A Healthy Gut.

There are two closely related areas that determine our gut health;

1.  Our healthy gut flora (the good bugs)!

2.  A functional gut barrier.  The gatekeeper that decides what gets in and what stays out.

You’re probably familiar with this, but you may not be so familiar with the devastating implications to our health of these two not functioning optimally?   With reference to the research and work of Dr Chris Kresser I explore these 2 areas more closely below. 

1.  Our Gut Flora

Our guts contain 10 times more bacteria than ALL the human cells in the entire body.  That’s a whole lot of bacteria.  With this much bacteria, I reckon they must have an important role to play… but … we do our best to get rid of these good ‘bugs’.   We have to stop.  Here’s just a snapshot of what they do;

• promote normal gastrointestinal function
• protect from infection
• regulates metabolism and
• comprises 75% of our immune system!

Dis-functional gut flora has been linked to diseases ranging from autism and depression to autoiummune conditions like Hashimoto’s, bowel disease and type 1 diabetes.

We must respect, nurture and nourish our good bugs.  Our optimum health depends on it.  

As I’ve covered in previous newsletters some of the modern lifestyle choices we make that affect our gut flora include:

• antibiotics and other medications
• diets high in refined carbohydrates, sugar and processed foods
• wheat and industrial seed oils can contribute to leaky gut
• stress
• chronic infections

2.  The Gut Barrier 

One of the most important functions of the gut is to prevent foreign substances entering the body.  When the gut barrier becomes permeable (i.e. leaky gut), large protein molecules escape into the blood.  Since these proteins don’t belong outside the gut, the body mounts an immune response and attacks them.

‘Experts in mucosal biology e.g. Alessio Fasano, M.D. now believe leaky gut is a precondition to developing autoimmune diseases’

A new theory holds that the intestinal barrier can determine whether we tolerate or react to toxic substances we ingest from the environment.  The breach of the gut barrier (which is only possible with ‘leaky gut’) by food toxins like gluten or other toxins causes an immune response which affects not only the gut, but other organs and tissues e.g. the skeletal system, the pancreas, the kidney, liver and the brain. It can manifest as skin problems e.g. eczema or psoriasis, heart failure,autoimmune affecting thyroid or the joints, mental illness and more.

You don’t have to have gut symptoms to have a leaky gut.