Healing Leaky Gut to Ease Allergies and Food Intolerances

Leaky gut, candida and other digestive disorders can HUGELY impact how severe your reactions to foods you don't tolerate well will be.

When the gut becomes leaky or too permeable this will mean that large particles of food as well as pathogenic microorganisms can escape into the blood stream wreaking all kinds of havoc including immune responses to foods.

Leaky gut can occur very quickly and become a serious problem. It can happen to anyone at any time. The main causes are as follows:

• Yeast or Candida- Yeast is a single celled microorganism and is found in every human body. This is fine when it is kept in check, however when it gets out of control (which is usually due to antibiotics which kill off other good bacteria but leave candida to proliferate out of control) it becomes a serious problem as it mutates into a fungal form which literally grows root like tentacles that drill into the sensitive mucosal lining and poking holes into the gut causing it to become leaky!
•  STRESS- stress is a serious factor here- most people with candida and/or leaky gut concentrate obsessively on the diet and less on dealing with how stressed, uptight, angry and/or resentful they are. Stress literally suppresses immune and intestinal function and if left will create serious problems with leaky gut. I recommend purchasing Louise Hay's book You Can Heal Your Life, cheap on fishpond and they do free postage, I have also found her Cd's very helpful for quiet meditation as well as taking a walk in the park each morning and practicing yoga. Take time for yourself, take the kids to the park if you have kids, breathe deeply and instead of criticising yourself and others so much and blaming people or circumstance, tell yourself positive, affirming statements and take control of your own life.
•  Medications- See a highly experienced naturopath and/or nutritionist that understands salicylate intolerance and talk to them about coming off any unnecessary antibiotics, steroids etc. Stop taking over the counter pain relief like ibuprofen (obviously if you are allergic to salicylates you would avoid anything with aspirin anyway).
•  Zinc deficiency- Have your naturopath and/or nutritionist test for zinc deficiency, this can also lead to gut permeability, if you are deficient make sure you are supplemented with a high quality liquid zinc.
•  Diet- Eliminate refined flour, gluten, sugar, toxic fats and processed and packaged foods. This is an obvious for most people who are salicylate intolerant as processed foods contain a BOATLOAD of artificial colours, flavourings and preservatives which can trigger fairly major reactions.  Although refined flour and sugar are apparently safe for someone who is salicylate intolerant they will most certainly contribute to a leaky gut and keep you very sensitive to any new foods. For health and healing please look at my nutritional guidelines on this blog.

For most people to eliminate candida and/or leaky gut and promote digestion we are told to consume a variety of different herbs and spices, different superfoods and coconut oil and a whole range of other things which would do someone who is salicylate intolerant NO GOOD AT ALL! I have been there, I was trying to get well and became more and more sick, it was not pretty.

SO how do we deal with this problem and come to a place where we are well and can return to a nearly normal diet (just avoid those foods that a very high in salicylates most of the time)
FIRSTLY I cannot stress enough that it is fairly imperative to see a highly qualified and reputable naturopath and/or nutritionist and seriously read Louise Hay, I Can Heal Your Life. Being able to cope with life's stress and promoting positive thoughts are essential for healing.

This is how I am dealing with the problem
I take Active Elements Minerals to support my mineral deficiences.
I spoke with the founder of Active Elements, Leslie Fisher and he confirms they do not contain salicylates.
I take Bioceuticals Ultra Clean EPA/DHA plus Fish Oil to assist with inflammation.
I take Thomson's B Complex
Bioglan Vit C (pure no salicylate formula, avoid those with riboflavanoids, rutin etc)
I take Bioceuticals Ultra Biotic 45 to replenish good bacteria
(Edit) OOPS! I also take 2mLs Metagenics liquid zinc at night, I have it after dinner and have a Vit C drink as well which stops it making me feel sick in the stomach.
Doing a detox for a few days can really help, the detox may involve just drinking bone broth soup and juiced vegetables (from the low salicylate column) this gives the digestive tract time to heal as the nutrients are much more easily assimilated and digestion can rest.

When you do go back to whole foods when you are eating make sure that you are relaxed, are enjoying your food to the fullest and CHEW YOUR FOOD PROPERLY!! For the love of everything, leaving huge chunks of food in your mouth and just swallowing them whole is a sure fire way to put distress on your digestive system and contribute to the dis-ease. Sounds gross but please savour your food and chew it in your mouth WELL before swallowing. It doesn't matter if it takes you an hour to eat it. Making something delicious and yummy and savouring every mouthful will go a long way in fixing the problems.
One of the most important aspects of healing digestive health is including a good bone broth and low salicylate vegetable soup, the properties from the bones really go a long way in healing the digestive tract. See my recipe on this blog.

Eliminate unnecessary toxins, I use a Zazen water filter at home, I open and air the house daily, do breathing exercises and make sure I go out and get some sun (Vit D) and fresh air every day.
Look into other alternative methods of healing such as acupuncture, massage (my favourite is kahuna), reflexology and something I am yet to try but looks extremely interesting is Bioresonance therapy http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=bioresonance+therapy&oq=bioresonance+therapy&gs_l=youtube.3..0.74.2731.0.2832.16.10.0.5.5.1.469.1836.4j3j1j0j2.10.0...0.0...1ac.1.X3K9QJus5Fo
I am sure I will edit and update this as time goes on, I have probably forgotten a number of helpful tips.

All the best to you all and all my healing thoughts with you.
Jessie.
If you want more info check out these resources
http://www.brighterdayfoods.com/PDFDocs/d/DR3C27M98FWC9G33VJ916NSGP7RTAG86.PDF
http://www.enzymestuff.com/conditionleakygut.htm