Gut Health :
Keeping the “Good Guys” Happy!
The first steps in my journey to repair and well-being
The first steps in my journey to repair and well-being
Alittle more than a year ago, despite my seemingly healthy approach to overall health and weight management, I noticed a few pounds of fat creeping up on me. In addition to gaining fat, I was experiencing ever-increasing bouts of intestinal flushing. Although I didn’t know the term for what I was experiencing at the time, I had leaky gut syndrome (LGS).
I began to pay close attention to what triggered my LGS. I observed that consuming dairy products, refined flour, or hot spices – something I’d been accustomed to doing for most of my life- followed by even the smallest amount of sugary dessert (the latter on rare occasions), triggered my gut issue. This is when I discovered the book, The Pegan Diet: 21 Principles for Reclaiming Your Health in a Nutritionally Confusing World by Dr. Mark Hyman, a medical and functional medicine doctor, who found meaningful answers to my LGS and weight management questions. In The Pegan Diet, Dr. Hyman describes the 5 Rs: remove, replace, reinoculate, repair and rebalance.
First, I removed the foods (and beverages) that were feeding my “bad bacteria” (dairy, refined flour, grains and sugar), and gradually began to see positive results – or rather the lack of frequency – of my LGS. Next, I replaced these foods with those that would feed the “good guys”.
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I began consuming prebiotics and probiotics, which would set my gut microbiome up for success. Once the microbiome in my gut was becoming in balance, I experimented with reinoculation of food combinations that were previously intolerable. I tried potato gnocchi with gorgonzola in a sage brown butter sauce for the first time in six months. I waited. No LGS episode! My gut was healed enough that I could eat a decadent dish ( infrequently) sans disaster! Then I focused on repairing my gut microbiome by actively seeking prebiotics and probiotics contained in food or supplements such as zinc and antioxidants. Finally, focusing on my lifestyle habits, such as increasing sleep and reducing stress, has contributed positively to helping me rebalance.
After six months of focusing on keeping the “good guys” happy in my gut, not only has my LGS significantly reduced in frequency, but I’ve lost 13 pounds (and have kept it off) as a side effect! Hyman, Mark, The Pegan Diet: 21 Practical Principles for Reclaiming Your Health in a Nutritionally Confusing World. Little, Brown and Company. 2023.
