{"id":1384,"date":"2023-09-08T05:56:35","date_gmt":"2023-09-08T05:56:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/627262.us27.myftpupload.com\/?p=1384"},"modified":"2023-09-08T05:56:35","modified_gmt":"2023-09-08T05:56:35","slug":"5-steps-to-a-healthy-gut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medsomma.com\/evoke5\/5-steps-to-a-healthy-gut\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Steps to a Healthy Gut"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I\u2019ve seen enough in my years as a family medicine doctor at <a href=\"https:\/\/medsomma.com\/evoke5\/\">Evoke 5 Medical Center<\/a> to know that health (good or bad) starts in the gut. And if you\u2019ve known me for very long, you\u2019ve no doubt heard me talk about <a href=\"https:\/\/medsomma.com\/evoke5\/the-importance-of-gut-health\/\">the importance of gut health<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>But you don\u2019t have to take my word for it. Science shows we get the majority of information about our environment through the gut. This is relayed through mRNA from food and bacteria directly to our cells.<\/p>\n<p>The majority of our neurotransmitters (serotonin) are also produced in the gut, which is why gut health is so closely tied to brain health and mood. (And why the gut is often called the \u201csecond brain!\u201d)<\/p>\n<p>And did you know that 80 percent of our immune system lives in our GI tract? If you have a lot of irritation and breakdown in the gut, this stimulates your immune system, which can lead to chronic disease.<\/p>\n<h3>Symptoms of an unhappy gut \ud83d\ude41<\/h3>\n<p>Symptoms that your gut isn\u2019t happy include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Bloating<\/li>\n<li>Diarrhea<\/li>\n<li>Constipation<\/li>\n<li>Acid reflux<\/li>\n<li>Foggy brain<\/li>\n<li>Skin rashes<\/li>\n<li>Joint pain<\/li>\n<li>Fatigue<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Most often, these symptoms are caused by a breakdown of the protective barrier of your intestinal lining, leading to what we call <a href=\"https:\/\/medsomma.com\/evoke5\/10-ways-to-treat-a-leaky-gut\/\">\u201cleaky gut.\u201d<\/a> This is kind of like having paper cuts all over your skin, which breaks down the protective barrier and leads to inflammation. Chronic inflammation can cause insulin resistance\/diabetes, heart disease, autoimmune disorders and other diseases.<\/p>\n<p>If you experience these symptoms, you\u2019re not alone \u2013 and there is something you can do about it. For a little inspiration, check out one of my patient stories, where Ruth shares about her battle with inflammation (and how she won it!).<\/p>\n<h3>5 steps to a healthy gut<\/h3>\n<p>When working with my patients on gut health, I follow a five-step process that I call \u201cThe 5Rs,\u201d based on the 5R Framework for Gut Health from the Institute for Functional Medicine. While every patient\u2019s treatment plan is unique, the general process is similar:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><strong>Remove<\/strong>: We start by eliminating food that can be aggravating or causing inflammation in the gut. I use <a href=\"https:\/\/medsomma.com\/evoke5\/gut-health\/\">food intolerance testing<\/a> to get as specific as possible. Research shows it\u2019s beneficial to eliminate inflammatory foods for four to six weeks, while your gut starts to heal.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Replace<\/strong>: Age and other triggers can cause deficiencies of the digestive enzymes, stomach acid and bile, which are essential for digestion. Optimizing digestion is vital for the healing process, so the second R is addressing deficiencies through the use of supplements.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Reinoculate<\/strong>: A healthy gut is home to trillions of bacteria that help us function our best. However, most of us suffer from an imbalance of \u201cgood\u201d bacteria and \u201cbad\u201d pathogens in our gut. I use a <a href=\"https:\/\/medsomma.com\/evoke5\/gut-health\/\">stool microbiome test<\/a> to identify imbalances and map out a plan for reintroducing proper bacteria in the gut.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Repair<\/strong>: A major part of the 5 Rs process is healing the intestinal lining. We work to repair this barrier with supplements and a diet rich in collagen\/glutamine. This can take six to eight weeks to achieve.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Rebalance<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/medsomma.com\/evoke5\/spiritual-wellness-resources\/\">Balancing your daily stress<\/a> will improve the function of your gut. Making it a habit to breathe properly, meditate, sleep, and relax will lower your cortisol levels and optimize the function of the GI tract.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<h3>Get to the bottom of your gut issues<\/h3>\n<p>If you\u2019re ready to get to the bottom of your gut issues (and improve your overall health), <a href=\"https:\/\/medsomma.com\/evoke5\/contact\/\">get in touch<\/a>. If you\u2019re in the McKinney area, schedule an appointment <a href=\"https:\/\/medsomma.com\/evoke5\/\">at Evoke 5, my functional family medicine clinic<\/a>. You can also <a href=\"https:\/\/medsomma.com\/evoke5\/contact\/\">book an online consultation<\/a> with me; I\u2019m happy to work with clients across the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I\u2019ve seen enough in my years as a family medicine doctor at Evoke 5 Medical Center to know that health (good or bad) starts in the gut. And if you\u2019ve known me for very long, you\u2019ve no doubt heard me talk about the importance of gut health. But you don\u2019t have to take my word [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":900012,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-medical-wellness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medsomma.com\/evoke5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medsomma.com\/evoke5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medsomma.com\/evoke5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medsomma.com\/evoke5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medsomma.com\/evoke5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/medsomma.com\/evoke5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1384\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medsomma.com\/evoke5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/900012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medsomma.com\/evoke5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medsomma.com\/evoke5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medsomma.com\/evoke5\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}