What Molecule Increases Leaky Gut?

I had a patient who had to wait till around lunch time to leave the house because he would have 4-5 urgent bowel movements in the morning. His intestines chained him to his house because he couldn't be sure how quickly he could find a bathroom to pull over the car, should he leave home. This affected work and social life. Now many of you may not have symptoms as severe as this, but may be plagued with bloating, multiple food sensitivities, or a very reactive GI tract where there is no rhyme or reason to when your gut may act up.Photo Credit Ed Uthman

I worked on the principles of healing his intestinal barrier, repopulating proper microbiome, and reducing inflammation. And the patient I mentioned above longer had urgency to stool, was able to go to work at a normal time and resume social activities with friends. 

The symptoms described above are some of the symptoms associated with "Leaky Gut". I have the priviledge to be one of the writers for the NaturalPath Publications and you can see the full article about The One Molecule That Causes Leaky Gut Here.

We will discuss:

• What Molecule is associated with Leaky Gut
• Zonulin
• What Increases that Molecule (Transglutaminase, Nano Particles)
• Where they are found and how to avoid them
• Secretory IgA 
• How to Fix Leaky Gut 

Click Here for more information. 

GUT-BRAIN Connection. Can My Gut Affect My Brain?

I had a teacher see me for memory issues and fatigue. She had a very difficult time:

• focusing
• remembering new information
• making decisions 
• staying on top of her tasks
• experienced brain fog and extreme tiredness. 

Her brain symptoms and difficulty concentrating were so severe that she needed her partner to help her fill out the health history form. She is relatively too young for age related dementia, so what was causing this?

Photo Credit Taylor Maley

Well it turns out this patient also has some digestive problems that new research shows can contribute to the brain symptoms. John Hopkins Center for Neurogastroenterology conducts research about how the Enteric Nervous System is key to the Gut and Brain relationship. This connection was important to my patient’s recovery. So what is the enteric nervous system? 

The brain is controlled by two nervous systems, one is controlled by your brain (CNS Central Nervous System), the other is the Enteric Nervous System (ENS) which works separate from the brain. Think of it as a thin 100 million nerve cell network that coats your entire GI tract and sends “walkie-talkie” messages, commanding the GI tract to secrete enzymes, digest food, interact with microbes in the gut etc. What happens in the gut is then reported to the CNS (brain). So both the ENS (gut-brain) and CNS (brain-brain) talk to each other. 

I’ve observed patients with GI problems often have more issues with mood, such as anxiety, stress and depression. I’ve also seen patient’s who often report that stress or emotions will worsen their GI problems.

So is it the chicken or the egg? BOTH.

The good news is that research is backing up the gut-brain relationship. Signals from a patients gut with GI issues are more inflammatory than those who are healthy. This explains how inflammatory chemicals can alter their brain chemistry. 

A Harvard Medical School article links stress with increased perception of pain. On the flip side, the article also links patients with GI disorders with increased perception of pain. So perhaps both these issues alter the ENS (gut-brain) and CNS (brain-brain) causing disregulation in pain perception both emotionally as well as physically.

There are two things that you can do at home that can calm down your ENS (Enteric Nervous System): 

• Deep Belly Breathing (tells mechanoreceptors in diaphragm to communicate with vagus nerve to calm your stomach and stress down)
• Applying gentle heat to the belly (tells temperature receptors to relax muscles in the gut, if you feel like it is all tensed up in a knott).  

In my practice, I use advanced techniques that help to put the nervous system back in balance, like adjusting the dials on the stereo to the correct volume. These work deeply to release an old body memory stored out of compensation from a previous stressor (physical or emotional) and are specific to re-wiring your nervous system set points. You'll know you need re-setting especially if you've felt, "I was feeling fine until...".

My patient stopped her marathon 2 hr naps, was able to prepare her lessons as a teacher and said she had a much clearer mind after working together on healing her gut. If you are suffering from GI symptoms or Brain issues, please contact me and I would be happy to help you, or point you in the right direction. Stay tuned for Part II of the Gut-Brain connection in a few weeks. 

I Feel Bloated Even After Drinking a Sip of Water

Why do I bloat within minutes of drinking water?

Why do I bloat after eating a bite of food, before the food even reaches the gut?

These are questions some of my patients have asked. So what triggers the bloating? It turns out when mechanoreceptors (pressure receptors) in the gut are triggered; the nervous system sends a message to the intestines via the Vagus nerve. The message can change the peristalsis (contraction) of the colon creating bloating or a full feeling. Photo Credit Robert McDonald

Secondly, a problematic communication in the nervous system can mess up the water exchange in the colon, resulting in a fluid bloat. Lastly, the nervous system talks back and forth with the bacteria in our colon. A stressed nervous system induces the bacteria in your gut to produce methane, giving off gas (gas bloat/flatulence). 

If the receptors (sensors) are too sensitive, even a small amount of pressure from water can trigger the mechanoreceptors. There are other receptors also, that can detect food sensitivities. When an allergic food touches the mouth, a signal is triggered before the food ever reaches the intestines. This is why there is a reaction before the water or food ever reaches the gut. 

So what causes receptors to be too sensitive? When the nervous system is too sensitive, it generally indicates a favoring of the sympathetic (STRESS) nervous system over the parasympathetic (RELAX) nervous system, which is not helpful to the situation. The body can be locked into a permanent fight and flight response (STRESS). Some people are aware of being in a prolonged fight and flight response, some do not know any different because it’s been dysfunctional for so long. 

Stressors increase the machinery in the body that makes you feel bloated. What exactly is a stressor? Some stressors can be PHYSICAL; such as infection, poor diet, lack of rest, overwork, and chronic illness. Some stressors can be EMOTIONAL, such as worry, overthinking, being in a rush, strained relationships, financial stress, not feeling safe, and negative thoughts. 

If you’ve already tried different diets for you GI symptoms and still feel bloated, a solution that is often overlooked are treatments that are geared towards balancing the set point of the nervous system. The nervous system controls many functions of the GI tract via the enteric nerves and the vagus nerve. Depending on your specific situation, I may use chinese herbs, supplements, IL-10 modulating products, homeopathic remedies that balance the nervous system in addition to NET (neuro emotional technique). Addressing the nervous system has helped many of my patients who have felt stuck and frustrated with their gut, and allowed them to stop feeling bloated even after drinking a small amount of water and relieved IBS or other GI problems.

3 Hidden Toxins that Could Harm Your Health

Clean Living! I remember the feeling after taking a few days to really take care of myself. Such as having a few servings of home made vegetable juice, home made bone broths, fresh fruits and vegetables. I make sure to do yoga which brings my nervous system into the calm parasympathetic state, and maybe get a message to drain my lymphatic system. To top it off, dipping my feet into the ocean filled with negative charged ions that neutralize the electromagnetic frequencies of the positively charged ions from computers, cell phones, and our own oxidative stress is so refreshing. Can you imagine the feeling of energy, lightness, clarity and being clean that comes with a lower toxic level in your body?

Today lets talk about 3 toxins you may be exposed to on a daily basis that you may want to avoid. 

1. Xeno-estrogens. Did you know that synthetic estrogens are linked with increased cancer risk, or symptoms or hormonal inflammation such as PMS, hot flashes, endometriosis, fibroids and even headaches? Xeno-estrogens can be found in plastics such as plastic bags used to store food, plastic food containers, plastic wrap, and water bottles. Use glass instead. 

2. Phthalates are endocrine disruptors. This means they mimic and disrupt hormones causing hormonal imbalances. They are linked to birth defects and increased insulin resistance according to some studies. Unfortunately Phthalates are found in 95% of our population because of easy exposure through plastics, cosmetic products, perfumes and fragrances, hairspray etc. Avoid plastics with recycling codes 3 or 7, they are likely to contain Phthalates. 

3. Acrylamides are used in many industrial processes, but also found in foods. Acrylamides are carcinogenic and associated with increased risk of breast cancer. They are also associated with neurological damage in workers exposed to this chemical. Acrylamides are found in foods that are cooked above 250 degrees F and with charred meats from grilling (the blackened meats). Potato chips, and frech fries, foods heated at high temperatures contain higher levels of acrylamides. 

My perspective on toxins is to be educated but not fearful. There are many toxins in our world that we are exposed to that are in-evitable. If you are aware and can use substitutes that is wise. I've also seen patients who are fearful of so many foods, chemicals and everything around them, that the stress of the perception that their environment is unsafe, raises their cortisol and fight and flight response, leading to more inflammation, hormonal disruption, allergies, auto-immune diseases and illness. So balance is key. If your friend is serving you BBQ on the grill, it's once in a while with the acrylamides and won't kill you. But you may want avoid using plastic containers for your lunch everyday, and maybe the synthetically colored lipsticks. 

Worried Sick?

Is my Stress Normal?Photo Credit Bernard Goldbach

Or has our society collectively acquired a new norm of a stressful behavior? The underlying omnipresent knowledge of our “to do list” can vampire the enjoyment out of the very moments we are working on that “to do list” or trying to relax. Our bodies get tired and we just want to relax, but feel guilty to when there is so much unfinished. What will people think of me? Am I irresponsible? Am I a bad person? Maybe as long as I stay busy and “Do” I actually momentarily get some relief from self judgment. 

Deeper than Anxiety

Energetically Anxiety is fear of making an incorrect decision or mistake. This causes the person not to move in any direction, which in turn makes them feel stuck and trapped in their circumstances (which they may have created themselves from fear of making decisions). This may also manifest in the tendency to over research to find answers, feeling confused with conflicting information, and not making a quick decision to action. This keeps you longer in your unfavorable circumstance. 

Anxiety is also related to fear of abandonment, which can manifest in feeling a need to “Do” something, in order to keep other people happy and therefore “like you” and not abandon you. There’s a sense anxious people feel, that their world is not safe, so worrying is somehow a twisted way to make them feel temporary relief. Why is that? 

How does the Brain Interpret Reward?

Feel a low level of guilt or shame over small things in life? For some, it’s the guilt or shame that you feel, that gets interpreted as stress. We have a reward center in the brain called the nucleus accumbens. This part of the brain regulates how we feel pleasure associated with reward for a behavior. If you got rewarded with food when you finished your homework as a kid, you may link food to reward as an adult, perhaps over eating to emotionally feel good. If you got punished when you did not do homework, that punishment also registers in the nucleus accumbens, the reward center. This is why people oddly get addicted to guilt, shame, or punishing themselves. This may be why it’s so hard to break the cycle of worrying and just let go. 

How does Stress Make you Sick?

In a journal published by the Immunology Allergy Clinic of North America Titled “Stress and Allergics Diseases”, it is estimated that over 75% physician visits in America are stress related. Stress increases susceptibility to infections, autoimmune disease, allergies, and inflammatory bowel disease, and negatively affects the outcome to cancer and aging. Studies show that maternal stress while pregnant increases the child’s risk to developing asthma and allergies.

Stress impacts the immune system by increasing the secretion of cortisol and catecholamines. The stress hormones increase stimulation of TH2 type T cells, increasing the production of IL-4, IL-10 and IL-13, which favors an allergic inflammatory response. Cortisol unfortunately suppresses TH1 type T cells and thus IL-12 which is important for natural killer cell function, which decreases susceptibility to viral infections and cancer. 

Stress stimulates the sympathetic nervous system, which increases the release of Substance P (SP) which is related to pain and inflammation. Stress also increases the release of Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide (VIP). VIP increases vasodilation, secretion of water (which may increase edema, bloating, or diarrhea), and smooth muscle relaxation (may increase GERD symptoms). According to the British Journal of Medicine, increased VIP and VIP nerve receptors are associated with some inflammatory bowel disease. 

Stress definitely can make you sick, and takes away your enjoyment of life. Stay tuned and I will share some strategies to help you overcome stress in the next newsletter. In the mean time, remember the good things in life and laugh a little.