Chronic inflammation in your gut is one of the biggest cause of serious diseases.  Most people assume that your gut is only for digesting food, but it’s WAY more complicated and much more involved.  In fact your gut is the first line of defense against harmful substances.

Your gut is where all nutrients from food are transported into your body.  And as much as nutrients need to be transported into the body for survival and optimal health, it’s also imperative that harmful substances stay out of the body for protection.  So you can see why your gut acts as the first line of defense.  It’s like the TSA at your local airport…it’s security for your body.

In a normal healthy gut, the line of defense is effective and functions properly, making sure nothing harmful gets through the gut and into your body.  However, chronic inflammation of your gut…usually caused by poor diet…impairs your gut lining making it more permeable.  As a result, it starts to let in substances that shouldn’t be allowed in.

Normal nutrients which are not harmful but are too large to go through the gut lining, such as large protein molecules, all of a sudden start permeating through the gut and into the bloodstream.  When this occurs your own immune system detects these substances as “foreign invaders” and attacks it to eradicate it.  This broken process is what’s known as the “leaky gut” syndrome and it’s one of the major causes of autoimmune diseases - a condition in which your body starts attacking itself in an effort to protect your body.

New research indicates that diabetes may be an autoimmune disease caused by chronic inflammation to the gut.  But that’s just one of many studies that have linked other serious diseases to poor gut health.  Many other negative health effects like weight gain, depression and skin disorders have all been associated with poor gut health.

So how do you prevent your gut from getting inflammed?

Just avoid eating foods that cause inflammation will help tremendously.  But the trick is to find out what foods cause inflammation?  And this is where it can get a bit tricky, because we all respond slightly differently to food.  However, to begin with, there are certain common food triggers that promote inflammation, that you can eliminate.  But I’ll be honest, you’re going to have to do a little experimenting on your own to figure out what foods are fine and what foods cause inflammation.  It’s a bit of a pain but the alternative is a chronically inflamed gut that can lead to serious life altering diseases…I think you’ll agree, that it’s worth the trouble.

So here’s the first step in getting a healthy gut:  Avoid gluten (grain) and dairy.

Gluten is one of the biggest cause of gut inflammation.  Granted not everyone is gluten intolerant, it’s worth giving up gluten for 30 days to see how you feel.  You may surprise yourself and find that you feel much better without it.  And although you can get gluten-free flour…it’s best to stay away from any form of grains during this time.  If you aren’t intolerant, you can slowly start incorporating it back in to your diet.

Dairy is another common culprit.  Many people are dairy intolerant or allergic to dairy and may not even know it.  The only exception is pasture raised grass-fed butter or ghee, which doesn’t have casein - a common cause of inflammation.  As with gluten, avoid dairy for 30 days and see how you feel.  If you feel no difference, you can slowly start putting it back in to your diet as well.

It’s not uncommon to feel a big different, just by eliminating gluten and dairy.  Many people aren’t even aware that they were intolerant to these foods, because they got so used to feeling subpar that it became their norm. If eliminating these foods made a difference, then there are other steps you can take to make you feel even better.

The next step is to eliminating the big 3 culprits…sugar, alcohol and caffeine.

Out of all three, sugar is probably the most difficult since it’s the most addictive.  One way to help you ween off sugar is to substitute sugar with natural sweeteners like xylitol and stevia.  That being said, keep in mind that your goal is to get off sugar, so don’t start adding stevia and xylitol to everything you eat and drink…that defeats the purpose.

Other foods to avoid are:  Soy, peanuts, legumes and potatoes.  Most soy products are a definite no no.  But fermented soy is s different story.  Fermented soy such as natto, miso and tempeh are fine to eat since the fermentation process makes is gut friendly.  Legumes and potatoes are also fine IF they’ve been cooked and then cooled overnight in which case it becomes resistant starch.  You can read more about resistant starch here.

Here are other gut friendly foods that you can eat:

Protein: Cold-water fish that’s high in omega-3 fatty acids and low mercury such as salmon, trout, herring and anchovies.

Vegetables: Dino kale (cooked), spinach, (cooked), broccoli, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, cabbage, asparagus, fennel, radish, collards, cucumber, zucchini, celery, carrots, bok choy, avocados, artichokes, green beans and dark leafy lettuce.

Fruits: Most berries (strawberry, blackberry, raspberry), most citrus fruits (grapefruit, lemon, lime)

Fat: Coconut oil, grass-fed butter and ghee, extra virgin olive oil, avocado oil

Now usually I’m a stickler when it comes to the ratio of macronutrients you eat…but in this case, it’s all about eliminating gut irritating foods, so I wouldn’t be concerned about the macronutrient ratios.  Just eye ball the amount of macronutrients you eat, and try and consume about 50% of the food from veggies and fruits and the other 50% split between proteins and fats.

Lastly, you can also take supplements to help improve your gut health as well.  The two supplements I would recommend are omega-3 fatty acid supplements that help fight inflammation and probiotic supplements to help improve your gut flora.  Although you should get majority of anti-inflammatory promoting nutrients from real foods to help fix your gut, supplements can be real helpful, especially if you’re body is already in inflammatory state.

So there you have it.  Try eliminating certain trigger foods and implement more anti-inflammatory foods into your diet and see how you feel.  I think you’ll be pretty amazed at how much better you feel in just a short period.  And it may be just what you need to help you get rid of that last bit of stubborn body fat as well 😊