HEAL YOUR GUT, HEAL YOURSELF
by Dr. Amy Myers

Do you suffer from seasonal allergies, weight gain, hormonal imbalances, mood imbalances or an autoimmune disorder? If so, read on......

A properly functioning digestive system (gut) is critical to good health. In fact, 60 -80% of our immune system is located in our gut and 50% of our neurotransmitters (chemicals responsible for regulating mood) such as serotonin are made in our gut. Problems in our gastrointestinal (GI) tract can cause more than just stomach pain, gas, bloating or diarrhea they can be the root cause of many chronic health problems. Gut imbalances have been linked to hormonal imbalances, autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and hashimotos thyroiditis, diabetes, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, anxiety, depression, eczema and rosacea, just to name a few.

So how does one heal their gut and heal themselves?
In functional Medicine we use a simple approach that we call the 4R program – remove, replace, reinoculate, and repair.

1. Remove
Remove the bad. The goal is to get rid of things that negatively affect the environment of the GI tract such as inflammatory foods, infections, and gastric irritants like alcohol, caffeine or drugs. Inflammatory foods such as gluten, dairy, corn, soy, eggs and sugar can lead to food sensitivities. I recommend an Elimination Diet and IgG food sensitivity testing to determine if any foods are a problem for you. Infections can be from parasites, yeast or bacteria. A comprehensive stool analysis is key to determining the levels of good bacteria as well as any infections that may be present. Removing the infections may require treatment with herbs, anti-parasite medication, anti-fungal medication or even antibiotics.

2. Replace
Replace the good. Adding back in the essential ingredients for proper digestion and absorption is key. This includes things like digestive enzymes, hydrochloric acid and bile acids that are required for proper... read more