This week on the Health Made Simple show, we’re talking about gut health. This is an essential topic because it affects almost everyone. Not just that, though, this is a topic that can be massively confusing and can even be a moving target at times. I’m going to try and simplify it down to the 4 Rs you can focus on, so you can have a clear set of steps to move forward. 

First, though, I’m going to share a clinical insight featuring two of my patients. They’re both golfers, they’re both in their 50s, they’re both similarly sized, etc. One of them has been doing a pretty good job of taking care of himself, staying flexible, and keeping his range of motion. The other gentleman looks at any treatment, massage, or supplement like a nuisance. 

The gentleman who’s excited to take care of himself certainly doesn’t have it all perfect, but he always comes in with the attitude of “What else can I do?”. He wants to be living the best version of his life and he’s willing to do what it takes. The other gentleman is annoyed that all of his problems haven’t been magically solved by the third visit. I’m not even sure whether I’ll ever see him again, in fact. He thought that he could reverse almost 60 years of physical stress with a few begrudging trips into my office. This leads us into our discussion of gut health perfectly because for both…

Watch the live show below:

There Is No Magic Wand.

I’ve been practicing for a while now and most people, when asked, will say their gut is fine. The reality is that a minimum of 50% of people are in dysbiosis, an imbalance between the good and bad bacteria in the gut. Some people believe that number is as high as 90%. The list of symptoms is so much larger than people realize, including:

• Chronic Fatigue
• Digestive Issues
• Bloating
• Trouble Urinating
• Acid Reflux
• Heartburn
• Food Intolerances
• Gas
• Acne
• Skin Rashes
• Psoriasis
• Bad Breath
• Upset Stomach
• Nausea
• Diarrhea
• Vaginal and Rectal Itching
• UTIs
• Headaches
• Confusion
• Joint Pain

Before we can address these issues, we have to ask ourselves, “How did we get here?”.

1. Emotional Stress

When you’re experiencing emotional stress, you’re reducing the amount of hydrochloric acid in your body. This easily creates imbalance and throws off your gut health. 

2. Antibiotic Use

Antibiotics do save lives, and they have been effective over the years, but they can also do a lot of damage. For example, Cipro kills around 90% of the bacteria in your gut within three hours. You are left extremely vulnerable to any bad thing entering your body. 

3. Glyphosate

Glyphosate is a chemical that they use on lawns but is also inbred in all GMOs. Just because a food says Non-GMO, doesn’t mean it doesn’t have glyphosate. Only the true organic foods will be without glyphosate. 

1. Birth Control Pills
2. Sugar
3. Parasites
4. Chemicals
5. NSAIDs

It’s this simple: If the gut breaks down, the body breaks down. No matter what’s going on, you need to ask yourself, “Is my gut awesome?”. A good gut has a balance of microbiomes. In addition, a good gut has a diversity of microbiomes. A good gut also has a limitation of pathogens. Structurally, a good gut is not leaky. 

Next, we’re going to dive into the 4 Rs of healing your gut.

1. Remove

You have to remove all the junk from your diet. An organic, whole food, God’s Garden diet is the only way to remove all the bad from your body. It’s like if you had a fire that you were pouring water and gasoline on at the same time. It’s never going to work. The top inflammatory foods that have to go are gluten, dairy, wheat, corn, canola oil, soy, and sugar. Sometimes you also have to remove things like candida or parasites in addition to getting the inflammatory foods out. The simplest way to become a better digester is to take Zypan. It’s a great way to get B12 into your body and improve your gut health. The only people who should avoid Zypan are those with a stomach ulcer. 

2. Replace

You have to get the right food and supplements in after you take the bad ones out. This is where we have to get our fiber in. We’re supposed to be getting 8-10 cups a day in. The average person is between 1-3 cups or less. This is a place where supplements can really bridge your health gap. There are different issues you can have that would make you adjust your fiber intake and others, so you should be having a conversation with your practitioner about that. 

3. Repair

This is where the game really changes and we start to repair potentially decades of damage. We’re focusing here on the permeability of the gut. When we take antibiotics, they strip away the mucosal lining and make the permeability of the gut a weakness. Those tiny pores get cut and scraped and your gut becomes leaky. Now you have food sensitivities off the chart and things are really going downhill. You can do bone broth every day and the L Glutamine will begin to repair those leaks and junctions in the gut. Collagen on a daily basis will also help this process. I take a supplement called Okra Pepsin E3, it’s a really effective way to build up that mucosal lining. This is where our probiotics and prebiotics come in. You need to get with your practitioner for these because they’re good for different people at different times. In addition, you can’t get to this step without going through the first two. You can overdo the probiotics, so you need to be very careful with the way you handle this. 

4. Rebalance

Now, we’re not talking about the microbiome, we’re talking about stress reduction. It plays a massive role in gut health. There are so many people who will not even admit to having stress in their lives. Are you having a yin moment on a regular basis? Are you doing something calming, centering, or healing for yourself every day? One of the simplest is yoga. As much as home practice can be good, a collaborative yoga time can really help center you. In addition, meditation, breathing, and good sleep are all a part of the process of bringing balance. There’s no such thing as perfect. You can almost make yourself unwell by having a perfectionist mindset when it comes to health. These things are meant to enhance, not be perfect fixes.

Another thing I want to cover is chiropractic. The amount of people I’ve helped with gut health through a chiropractic adjustment is mind-blowing. Your entire nervous system is held by your spine. The moment you make an adjustment, you adjust the balance of the nerves and reset them, especially the vagus nerve. Your stomach can instantly open up and begin to move again, just through a specific chiropractic adjustment. 

If you want to run labs with me or just learn more, you can always contact me at (850) 231-9288 or info@balance30a.com. Of course, if you’re local, you can come to see me in person, it’s a really complete experience. 

And last, but certainly not least, this week’s action to become superhuman is…

Don’t Give Up Too Early

Believe in the possibilities and change your mind from hardship into opportunity. 

What’s Next?

We have put together a dashboard of all of Dr. Bart’s videos, based on health topics, in our Level-Up Health Membership.

This library of health content is low cost, so we can help you on your journey to becoming superhuman! 

Not only is it extensive, but it will continue to expand with new videos each month. Also, you will have the opportunity to share these videos with your friends and family!

Dr. Bart Precourt

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