Gut Healing 101

In TED mamas we have loads of mamas who want to heal their children and themselves, through focusing on gut healing. Gut healing is so important but it can be really hard when you have dietary limitation committing to a strict diet regime like GAPS or AIP might be overwhelming and too much. So here are just some ideas that can help toward gut healing. We all do what we can, we might not be able to do all of them, but we can work within our own limitations to support healing as best we can.

What can we do to help heal our guts and live healthier lives?

• Reduce or cut out grains (especially gluten) and eliminate refined sugar, preferably using natural sweetener in moderation.
• Daily probiotic and/or unpasteurised fermented food which provides probiotic bacteria, some provide probiotic yeasts and enzymes that aid digestion.
• Digestive enzymes or enzyme rich foods, taking a digestive enzyme or eating enzyme rich foods can help aid digestion and reduce the size of the food molecules that get passed on through breastmilk, though it helps lots of mamas it is worth remembering that it is not without risk as it can become dependant on them if their body stops producing the enzymes needed to break down the food. Enzyme rich foods, (papaya, sauerkraut, etc) can aid digestion with a lower risk of dependency.
• Remove foods that cause inflammation, like food allergies, sensitivities, intolerances and reduce or cut out overall inflammatory foods like dairy, grains and nightshades.
• Consume lots of organic meat or bone broth, some find supplementing with L. Glutamine really helpful, but it is one of the main benefits of broth so at least one of the two should help. (Be aware some struggle with breaking down glutamine, or are glutamine sensitive especially if they have a history of reactions to MSG, these people can often benefit from Vitamin B6 as P5P which helps the body breakdown and eliminate Glutamine).
• Identify if you have any vitamin or mineral deficiencies, as they will slow down healing greatly, for this it can be useful to identify your mthfr and other gene snp’s status, because stress can trigger the genetic expression of genes that can impair nutrient metabolism and reduce what we are able to utilise from our food and supplements. (Can also include ensuring you have enough omega 3:6 ratio, enough vitamin d3, etc.) A trace mineral supplement can also help tremendously, like Restore, concentrace and liquid light, which are forms of humic and fulvic acid which can provide a huge number (70+ trace minerals).
• Sprouting/soaking/fermenting nuts/grains/seeds/vegetables – basically all foods, this can break down the starches and anti nutrients that can cause irritation and help them be more easy on digestion, and fermenting grains and vegetables can make the nutrients in them much more bioavailable and make them easier in digestion.
• Lots of people find detoxing (Epsom baths etc.) and working on liver support can also really help. (I hope to do another post on liver and detox soon.)

It is worth noting histamine can be a huge issue preventing people from using ferments and bone broth, short cook meat broth can be significantly lower histamine, and some ferments especially anaerobic and short duration ferments are much lower histamine and can still be beneficial to many with some degree of histamine intolerance.

As ever, I am writing this as a mum, not a health care professional.
Please see “The Disclaimer” for more.