30 Day Group Gut Repair / Anti-inflammatory “Cleanse” – Repairvite Program
“All disease begins in the gut.” That quote has been referenced as far back as
the times of ancient Greece, and it is supported by more and more modern
research every day. The surface area of
the digestive system is enormous. It is
estimated to be between 30-40 square meters which is about the size of a tennis
court. Inflammation along the course of
these organs may not even be noticeable as far as frank symptoms go, but that
does not mean that it is not impacting your entire body. Inflammation in the gut will always cross
into the blood and impact all other systems in your physiology. There is a strong gut/brain interaction for
example. An inflamed gut = and inflamed
brain. But the correlations do not stop
there. All major health concerns can
have inflammation at their root. Cancer,
Autoimmune disease, Neurological decline, Diabetes, Arthritis, Obesity, Heart
disease, etc. all have their roots with inflammation. So lower inflammation in the gut and lower
inflammation in the body at the same time.
The focus of this program is not actually to “cleanse” the
body per se. The term “cleanse” in my
opinion is a very loaded word. For some
people it means being married to your toilet for several days. For others is means detoxing the liver. This program does not directly do either
really. It does involve a ton of fresh
veggies, dark greens, berries, fruits, clean meats and healthy fats. It is designed to dramatically reduce the
amount of inflammatory foods that commonly irritate a person’s gut. Eating
this way will indeed be “detoxing” however.
This program involves foods which are very dense with nutrition.
So what are inflammatory foods? Well interestingly inflammatory foods are
often times the foods we eat most often!
Grains for example have a tendency to be inflammatory for most people. Now I know that goes against all of our
training. Whole grains are healthy
right? Well in some cases and in some
people yes… But it just so happens that
of all the food sensitivities out there grains are at the top of the list! And this is aside from the fact that all
grains tend to elevate Insulin levels which is inflammatory all by itself. Dairy is another high sensitivity food. So the thrust of this program is to eliminate
as many of the most commonly inflammatory foods as possible as step one of the
process. (The second step is supplements
which I will discuss below.)
The second dietary concept that people need to be aware of
is that this is a program that involves quite a bit of animal protein. (Sorry to any vegetarians reading this.) The diet plan is basically a modified “Paleo
Diet” which involves plenty of animal protein, lots and lots of veggies, most
fruits, higher than normal intake of fermented foods, and a lot of healthy
fats. All grains, dairy, soy, eggs, nightshade
plants (potato, tomato, eggplant, and peppers), nuts/seeds, & beans/legumes
are all on the NO-NO list for the full 30 days. (Among a few other things.) I know that it sounds like a lot is missing,
but people can live this way forever.
You would not be missing out on any nutrients and you will not starve! The emotional loss of the comfort foods we
all enjoy is the worst of it and that passes.
The second part of the program and one that is not to be
forgotten is the supplement part. It is
one thing to avoid all of the potentially irritating foods, but it is another
thing to provide compounds shown to reduce inflammation and which work to
rebuild the lining of the digestive tract.
Used together we have a very powerful gut repair and systemic
anti-inflammatory program. For the
supplement part I choose to use two formulas.
The first formula is the backbone of the program which is the Repairvite
Powder itself. This powder is high in
L-Glutamine which is widely known for healing the gut. But it also contains Licorice Root Extract, Aloe
Vera, Slippery Elm, Marshmallow, and other botanicals and compounds which all
show benefit to the digestive tract. The
second formula is just a good high dose probiotic called Strengtia. On this program you will consume 120 billion
probiotic bugs per day. That is a good
healthy therapeutic dose which can help the digestive system in many ways. As a third formula, for those who are
interested, we can add in a formula for what I call a “killing spree.” This is a formula called GI-Synergy which
combines herbs and compounds to help eliminate Parasite, Yeast and Bacterial
overgrowth. I can discuss this on an
individual basis. These are strong herbs
so I did not want to include that in the program for everyone. If you have questions about this let’s talk
in person. The cost of the Supplements
comes to $199.37 for the month. ($80 extra for the GI-Synergy)
Think of this program as a vacation from many of the things
in your diet that might be working against you!
It can be a struggle and there will be difficult parts, but that is
where the group comes in. We are all
here to support each other… Me
included! I will be doing this program
along with the rest of you. And we can
all leave comments and questions for the group on a group forum. It is important that we all interact with
each other. I will also be holding a
pre- and post-meeting for those who are interested and/or in the area. I think that it would be great to have a
little potluck gathering in the last week of the program together for our
closing meeting. We can all bring in our
favorite Repairvite-friendly foods to share!
I am asking for $225 even to take part which covers the supplements as
well as the time and support that I will provide throughout the program. I look forward to sharing this experience with
you and being there for you all. See you
soon!
The SIBO Curse
Have you ever known anyone who no matter what they eat they
blow up like a balloon and suffer painful and uncomfortable gas and
bloating? Perhaps you even experience
this yourself? You may have been to
every doctor in town and tried every probiotic with no avail. A lot of your friends, who pay attention to
natural medicine, all feel that you most definitely have the dreaded candida
(yeast) curse! I end up hearing so much
about candida from my patients that it is surprising really. So you go on a radical diet, take probiotics
and a bunch of anti-candida herbs.
Nothing works. And in fact you
think that it even might have made you worse!
Okay, what already? What could be
causing so much discomfort?
Perhaps it is SIBO…
Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth.
But what in the world does that mean?
Simply put the small intestine should contain virtually little to no
bacteria. The primary location for
bacteria along the digestive tract (respectfully speaking… bacteria is of
course just about everywhere) is in the large intestine/colon. When these bacteria in the small intestine overgrow
they end up breaking down carbohydrates and fibers too early in the process and
produce gas in the wrong compartment!
When this happens in the large intestine the gas can pass rather easily,
though not always conveniently of course.
Like on a plane, or in class, or on a first date… But I digress. J But if this takes place in the small
intestine that gas will get trapped and build up causing bloating and pain in a
lot of cases. The most common symptom
associated with SIBO is frequent bloating after meals. And this bloating can often be described as looking
something like pregnancy! The tummy can
quite literally be round and firm. There
can also be either constipation or diarrhea which may differ from person to
person. In fact the typical “Irritable
Bowel Syndrome” (IBS) condition may actually be due to SIBO! I have heard all too often where a patient
was diagnosed by their medical doctor with IBS and given acid reducing
medications, case closed. Did this
therapy in fact help? No! That is why they found my office after all. In fact I would argue that the therapy
actually made them worse. I will go into
some of the factors leading to SIBO below so that you can better understand how
and why each case could be different.
One of the most common reasons for SIBO to develop is low
stomach acid. This is more common than
you know. And this is something that can
easily be induced with both prescription and over the counter medications. Know anyone who parks themselves next to an
economy sized bottle of anti-acid tablets?
I do. These people are
neutralizing their stomach acid. Aside
from digesting the food, stomach acid is also responsible for sterilizing the
first section of the small intestine. If
this does not occur bacteria can grow there and lead to SIBO! So I urge you to think twice when someone
tells you to cover up your digestive symptoms with acid reducing medications. I recently went to see a gastroenterologist
for something that I was experiencing and wanted a medical opinion about. They found that it was a mild hiatal hernia
and he then prescribed acid reducing medications. I told him I might try a short trial, but
that I didn’t like the idea. (I decided not to.) I was
surprised to hear his reply, “Yeah, they aren’t very good for you.” It is kind of like any woman with hormone
concerns who always gets put on birth control pills. Most everyone with any digestive concerns
almost always get put on acid reducers!
But they may just be leading to larger problems in the end. If you choose to go this route, please do
your research and proceed with caution!
Another very common situation that can lead to SIBO is poor
neurological function. The gut, like
everything else, is stimulated directly by the brain via the Vagus nerve. If there is damage to this nerve, or even if
there is a decline of overall brain function the stimulation to the gut will be
hindered. (Poor brain function will lead
to poor Vagus nerve activity and therefore poor gut stimulation.) This impacts blood flow to the area and
certainly the functioning of the various valves sealing off the different
compartments of the intestinal tract which can all lead to bacterial overgrowth. This is something that you see a lot in the
elderly who often times suffer from advancing neurological decline. But rarely does anyone ever make the link
between their bloating after meals and their neurological status. But pay attention. The next time you talk to someone of advanced
age with neurological decline see if you can find out if they are digesting
their food well. Most are constipated and bloated. In
these cases simply “fixing the gut” will not get very far. Brain support is critical for them and in
some cases all we can do is stop the progression. If enough nerve damage has occurred that may
just be how it will be going forward. We
can however support the condition to reduce discomfort and make eating a bit
more enjoyable while not being so scary.
Lastly I wanted to talk briefly about “IBS” while I am at it
because it is a very commonly thrown around diagnosis. I personally take offense to a diagnosis like
this because it is nothing more than a description of a set of symptoms. There is nothing in that “diagnosis” that
tells us anything about the root condition!
An irritable bowel can be from a lot of different things. But regardless this condition often involves
constipation and/or diarrhea. Interestingly
in the SIBO spectrum of disorders depending upon the type of bacteria that is
overgrown in the small intestine there can either be Methane gas or Hydrogen
gas produced by the bacteria present.
Methane tends to decrease intestinal motility leading to constipation
and Hydrogen tends to increase motility leading to diarrhea. So is the proper therapy for these conditions
acid reducing medications (which can lead to bacterial overgrowth), smooth
muscle relaxants (which can lead to poor valve control in the digestive tract
leading to translocation of bacteria from large to small intestine), or something
like laxatives/Imodium to quell the symptoms?
Well perhaps that is the way you prefer to go. But perhaps steps could be taken to address
the specific underlying mechanism at play.
Is it low stomach acid? And if so
why? Is the Thyroid working
properly? Are there medications involved
that are working to lower the acid production?
Are there infections in the gut which may be impacting acid production?
Or is there perhaps a neurological condition leading to these symptoms? Was there head trauma? Or is there any
developmental disability? There might
even be physical reasons like an abdominal injury or surgery. Each case is a little different.
So what can be done?
First like I described above it is important to understand the specific
mechanism involved in each case. That
means it is important to find a practitioner who is knowledgeable about the
differences and how to pick up on the subtle signs and symptoms of each. Second you must work to nutritionally support
the small intestine itself by providing compounds needed by the intestinal
cells to thrive. Digestive enzyme
support is also essential to help the body break down the food more efficiently
before the bacteria can get ahead of things.
It is essential to provide good probiotic support to promote optimal
bacteria distribution in the gut but make sure that they do not contain any
prebiotics (bacteria food). Most
probiotics contain prebiotics which are generally great but not with SIBO! And
lastly in some cases a person may need to work on the neurological function
associated with the gut. There are some
tricks for stimulating the Vagus nerve and I am happy to share them with you in
person sometime.
In closing I want to share just a few statistics from a
couple of well-respected medical journals.
(Journal of Clinical Gastroenterol & Gastroenterology
Hepatology). The following list are
percentages of certain groups of people who show positive for SIBO:
- · 66% of patients with Celiac Disease
- · 53% of patients who use antacid medications
- · 78% of patients who have been diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
- · 33% of patients with chronic diarrhea
- · 90% of alcoholics
The consequences of long term SIBO are many. Over time this can lead to permanent nerve
damage to the digestive tract. Food
sensitivities become more and more common. It can be argued that all chronic
disease can arise from chronic inflammation in the gut. SIBO is one way to foster such
inflammation. It has been with us for a
while but with the widespread use of antacid medications, poor diets, and poor
physical health in general the condition is only getting worse. I urge you to take your symptoms of gas and
bloating seriously. It isn’t just
uncomfortable. Your body is working hard
to try and tell you something is not right.
I am happy to schedule a consultation to go over some of your
concerns. I am here for you. Call on me anytime!