Being healthy is not accomplished through pharmaceuticals or surgery!
Gut healing is a personalized multi-step journey that might require a coach. When it comes to your Nutritional Journey, here are the six major steps that I recommend to clients. These are all steps I have taken in my journey toward healing from Hashimoto’s Disease and the other major health challenges including chronic inflammation, anxiety, pre-diabetes, and hormonal issues.
Six Steps for Gut Healing
Step 1: Realizing what you are eating and how it is affecting your health. This involves becoming more mindful of how you feel before, during and after a meal. You learn to pay attention to symptoms such as bloating, nasal congestion, fatigue, headaches, bad mood, declining energy levels, and abnormal bowel movements. These are not normal reactions to food. Important for Gut Healing.
Step 2: Removing those foods that are making you feel poorly (see the list of common inflammatory foods to the right). Testing for and removing sources of potential infections and toxins. If removing inflammatory foods for 1-3 months does not help you feel better, than you might consider being tested for infections such as SIBO (Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth), Lyme’s Disease, Epstein Barr Virus, mold and/or metal toxicity, and Parasites. Can negatively affect Gut Healing.
Functional Medicine’s Approach to Healing is Different than Conventional Medicine
Step 3: Replacing what your body is missing. You might need lab tests to help you determine this. It was amazing that I was incredibly deficient in Vitamin D even though I live in Florida and spend hours outdoors every day. My other deficiency was Vitamin B12, which is typical of people who have Autoimmune Disease. 50% of Americans are deficient in Magnesium. Magnesium is considered the “secret weapon against illness,” according to Functional Medicine Dr. Mark Hyman who adds “this critical mineral is actually responsible for over 300 enzyme reactions and is found in all of your tissues — but mainly in your bones, muscles, and brain.”
Step 4: Re-inoculating your body with probiotic and prebiotic foods that feed the good gut bacteria. Root vegetables, fermented foods (if you can tolerate them) and high-quality supplements are important in this stage of healing.
Step 5: Repairing your damaged gut. I have been on various protocols throughout my healing journey—but it has included supplements containing glutamine, H-Acetyl, L-Cysteine, to name a few. I also have used adaptogenic herbs such as Ashwagandha, Holy Basil and Rhodiola. And I continue to drink bone broth regularly to repair my gut. Another daily habit is resting the gut for 12 or more hours each night with no food. This is known as intermittent fasting.
Step 6: Rebalancing your gut and your life. This involves all the other lifestyle changes such as a daily yoga and meditation practice, other types of exercise, spending time in nature and doing things you love with people you enjoy. Adequate and sound rest without exposure to EMF’s every night and detoxing your beauty and cleaning routine is important too.
70-80% of your immune system is in your gut. Your immune system affects every other system in your body. So it is possible to heal many parts of your life when you heal your gut. I am not saying taking these steps is easy. But it is so worthwhile. I KNOW! I have walked the walk and continue to do a daily practice of healing to create the habits I need to be my most vibrant, happy self. I love helping my clients take these steps and others. I use patience, compassion, and leadership, to help you move forward in your health journey. Feel free to reach out to me. I offer a 30-minute FREE consultation to see if we are a good fit. I wish you health and happiness in your Journey. Namaste, Andrea
Andrea Trank
239-634-0739
andrea@heavenlanecreations.com
HeavenLaneCreations.com
