Leaky Gut Syndrome.

Doesn't that sound disgusting?  It really does.  What Leaky Gut Syndrome is, is even nastier.  Leaky Gut Syndrome is used to describe the medical condition "Hyperpermeable Intestines."  What does leaky gut sound like to you?  Ewww, yes, the gut literally leaking!  The intestinal lining has become porous, causing larger holes that make the filtering process impossible.  This means the intestines are allowing toxins, yeast, and waste to run rampant in your blood stream.

The intestines are a HUGE part of your immune system.  What happens when you have foreign objects aggravating your immune system?  Auto-immune!  Your body is now fighting for its life.  You should not have large particles of waste floating through your blood stream, of course it's going to go into survival mode.  What's worse, is that your liver is now working overtime, too.  Your body has to filter out toxins somehow.  Well, that's the livers job.  So now your liver is overworked, loaded with toxins.  What happens when the liver gets overworked?  Your body has to put toxins somewhere.  So it'll put it anywhere it can, in any of the body's tissues.  What do you feel when that happens?  Inflammation.  Ouch.  And now your body is so focused on fighting inflammation, the war against the Leaky Gut has halted.  It's a vicious cycle.  The cycle can lead to many auto-immune diseases, and conditions, including Chronic Fatigue, MS, IBS, Ulceritive Colitis, Fibomyalgia, Celiac disease, gluten intolerance, peanut allergies, and any food allergies.

If you have food allergies, it's most likely you have Leaky Gut Syndrome.  Any undigested food that enters your blood stream will now be treated as a foreign invader, and your immune system will act accordingly; food intolerance.  The inability to filter food also means you're not absorbing vitamins and minerals.  You're sick, and you're not even getting vital vitamins and minerals your body needs.  You're starving to death, but you're still pumping your body full of toxins.

How do you know if you have Leaky Gut Syndrome?  Do you have any of the following?

*Food sensitivities.
*Nutritional deficiencies.
*Chronic diarrhea, and or constipation.
*Skin rashes, your skins way of dumping toxins.
*Weakened immune system.  Getting sick easier, and having a harder time fighting illness.
*Headaches.
*Brain fog.
*Memory loss.
*Excessive fatigue.
* Inflammation.
*Yeast overgrowth. (Candida)

Candida is a symptom of Leaky Gut.  Candida will cause you to crave sugar and carbohydrates, its source of food.  Feeding this living yeast, the cycle of Leaky Gut will continue.

What causes Leaky Gut Syndrome?

*Diet.  Eating foods high in sugar, carbohydrates, processed foods, preservatives, and foods laced with chemicals will be treated as the toxins they are, and will lead to inflammation.

*Stress.  Stress is undoubtedly an immune suppressor.  Stress will continue to hinder your body's ability to eliminate toxins.

*Inflammation of any kind.  Yeast overgrowth, bacteria overgrowth,  infection, parasites, or environmental toxins will all cause inflammation.

*Medications.  Any prescriptions, including over the counter pain relievers with Aspirin and Acetaminophen, irritate the lining of the intestines, and lower the intestines natural mucus level, making toxins easier to release into the blood stream.    

*Yeast.  You do need normal levels of good yeast in your intestines, but once the bad yeast has overgrown, the yeast will grow tentacles, attaching itself to the lining of the intestines, causing holes to form.

*Lack of Zinc.  Zinc is needed in order to maintain healthy intestines.  When you're deficient, or your body is unable to absorb Zinc, problems will arise.

How do you eliminate Leaky Gut Syndrome?

*Diet restrictions.  Eliminate sugars, starches, grains, and irritating foods.  This will literally starve the yeast overgrowth.  This will also allow the intestines to cure themselves.  Here is a link to the Specific Carbohydrate Diet, a diet made specifically for healing, and curing the intestines from Leaky Gut.

"How to start the SCD Diet."

*Nutritional supplementing.  Leaky Gut will leave your body starved of all vitamins and minerals it's been unable to absorb.  Along with following a strict diet, the one I mention above, supplementing will help restore your body's essential vitamins which are imperative to healing your intestines.  A good multi-vitamin, along with vitamin D and Zinc are recommended.  Omega 3 fish oil is also an outstanding supplement for intestinal health, and will also help with inflammation.

*Probiotics.  Following the SCD diet, you're starving off the bad yeast.  Now you need a good, healthy yeast to balance things.  Probiotics are a must.  Good bacteria will help keep bad yeast from taking over, it will heal the gut, help nutrients get absorbed, and keep the cycle in check.  Make sure you check your labels when looking for healthy bacteria.  Refer to the SCD diet to find the appropriate bacteria.

*Digestive enzymes.  Digestive enzymes are a key role to breaking down the foods we eat.  Enzymes work as toxin cleaners as well.  While your gut is ill, and your liver is overworked, enzymes will help in all the areas your body is working to heal.  Enzymes will also help reduce inflammation.  Once again, check the quality, and the purity of enzymes you purchase.  They may have offending preservatives in them.  Do your research on all your supplements, make sure you're only getting the very best.  We don't want to further the problem here, we're trying to heal ourselves.

I can testify to everything I write.  I know it's a powerful tool, and to me, the only way to heal your body.  I suffer from MS, Fibomyalgia, IBS, and Chronic Fatigue.  If there's anyone who needed this diet, it was me.  At first I was very skeptical.  It's JUST a diet.  How can you heal auto-immune diseases?  With that same attitude, I also said, it's JUST a diet, what can I lose?  So I went for it.  If there was any chance I could feel better, I wouldn't be stupid enough to let skepticism keep me from trying anything that could bring relief.  And bring relief it did.  Within 24 hours, I kid you not, my inflammation was already significantly reduced.  I woke up for the first time in years without a migraine.  It is said with most people, relief will immediately be felt within 24-48 hours.  Ya can't argue with how you feel.  The proof is in that.  After following the diet for only six weeks, I am acne free.  I had gorgeous, flawless skin up until I got Fibromyalgia and MS.  Then my face resembled the surface of the moon.  It was incredibly embarrassing, and there was no amount of acne solution that could clear my face.  No matter what I tried, my face was horribly plagued.  My skin is incredibly gorgeous again.  It's full of life and health, and not a single blemish in sight.  Haven't had a break out in a loooong time.  I FEEL healthy, and my skin looks and feels healthy.  My dreams became less intense.  I am sleeping harder.  My fatigue that would keep me in bed 24/7?  MUCH better.  Something I never thought possible.  I am also Cluster headache free.  If you don't know what Cluster headaches are, Google them.  They're referred to as "suicide headaches."  You DO contemplate suicide   They're that bad.  They're ten times worse than any migraine headache, and they're often said to be far more painful than childbirth.  Having had four children myself, I can attest to the truth in this.  I'd rather give birth any day than deal with a Cluster headache.  I am now Cluster headache free.  My joint pain has been significantly reduced.  My hips, knees, ankles, wrists, and fingers don't hurt nearly as bad as they did.  My back pain has dropped dramatically.  I am exercising again for the first time in four years.  Something I never thought I'd see again.  Everything hurt too much.  I find exercise to be invigorating and healing, where as before it would only tire me and hurt me.  I avoided it at all costs.  My sex dive is back.  It's back and revved.  I no longer have any sexual dysfunction, including vaginal dryness, and difficulty achieving orgasm.  I cured my Hypoglycemia.  I had reactive, and fasting Hypoglycemia.  If I went too long without eating, my blood sugars would drop well below 70.  If I ate something with too many carbs, I would drop below 70.  It seemed I was always low.  I haven't had low blood sugars in six weeks.  That was also an immediate thing.  It was cured within the first few days of my diet.  My IBS is almost nonexistent.  I would be wracked in severe pain from anything I ate.  I would then deal with severe gas, bloating, and diarrhea or constipation.  I am almost completely symptom free from IBS.  It feels good to eat without fear.  My vision is better, my heart palpitations have disappeared, my nose has cleared from congestion, I don't get sores in my mouth, my teeth don't ache and hurt, my chronic sore throats have disappeared, my "MS hug" is gone.  "MS hug" is a sensation that feels like you're being squeezed in the abdominal area.  For me, it attacked my lungs.  It felt like I was drowning.  My lungs would feel like they were collapsing, losing air.  It's a very frightening experience.  It also causes all the symptoms of a heart attack.  To feel like you can't breath, along with heart attack symptoms, is disconcerting to say the least.  My "MS hug" is gone.  I feel so much more lung capacity.  I breath deeper, fuller, and it feels like the oxygen in my blood is actually being used now.  It's incredibly refreshing.  My skin is so beautiful, did I mention that?  My hair is thicker, I'm not losing as much hair, my nails aren't cracking anymore.  So many little changes that lead to great overall health.

I am still not feeling the best I can.  I still have changes I need to make.  I do feel 100% better, though.  It's something I can testify of, and something that I need to share.  It's made the biggest difference in my life.  This diet has to be the hardest change I have ever made in my life, though.  Your body will crave sugar.  It's harder than any drug or addiction I have ever tried to break myself from.  I was so addicted to sugar, it was pure misery for three weeks.  I cried from the physical withdrawal.  I was very emotional.  It was pure hell.  My mom felt the cravings subside after ten days.  For me, it was about three weeks to a month.  It will vary depending on how sick you are, how infested you are, and how addicted you are.  It's not easy.  At all.  It's very hard.  While you will feel inflammation subside within a day or two, you'll also feel like you're starving.  The yeast in your  body will scream for sugar, it's starving.  You'll feel miserable.  It will make you angry and very irritable.  Cutting back on any addiction is very uncomfortable.  People quit smoking because they know it's better for their health.  It's not comfortable, but they deal with the withdrawals because they know the end result is worth it.  Cutting sugar is going to be very hard and uncomfortable, but it's something you have to do if you want to feel amazing.  It's for your health and well being.  Any pain and suffering in the name of health is so worth is.

It's your life, not your disease's.  Claim it back.