What’s a leaky gut?

A leaky gut is when your gut (intestine lining) becomes permeable (or full of holes) and materials such as undigested food, yeast, toxins and other types of waste pass through the lining of the gut and into your bloodstream. Yew ! As you can imagine this can cause all sorts of issues in your body because there is more waste than there should be in your blood.

When your body detects all these foreign bodies in your blood it’s going to start your liver working overtime to take care of the waste in your blood. However it can’t keep up with all this waste and all sorts of toxins will start to build up in your system. Your system is now going to start working overtime to clear out all these toxins. However it will also fall behind and worse still, it will take it’s eye off fighting all the little battles it does daily, such as filtering the blood, calming other inflammation and regulating the gut.

There are now battles going on everywhere and your body will start to fight itself, which is where autoimmune diseases can come from, such as chronic fatigue, irritable bowel etc. Meanwhile the toxins building up are going to settle in your tissues which will cause them to inflame. Inflammation is a normal immune response but too much of it will cause even more stress on your body.

Food sensitivities and gluten are thought to be a cause of leaky gut, as is too much sugar, alcohol, and toxic foods. A healthy clean diet is key.

So what to do about this leaky gut? More information on the foods you need to eat for a healthy gut is available here