[How a leaky gut can be the cause
of many health problems.]
Q
What is Leaky Gut Syndrome and
why do many people unknowingly suffer from this devastating disease?
A
Most people have leaky gut and
don’t even know it. Leaky gut syndrome is a disease where
the intestine is so beaten up that it is unable to do its jobs correctly.
In normal circumstances, the intestine’s job is to keep undigested
food particles from getting into the blood stream. When it becomes
unable to do that, it starts to “leak” or let these
undigested foods seep into the blood. This is a devastating problem
because what follows is incredible stress on the immune system,
allergies, severe inflammatory reactions, pain, and most importantly,
extreme vitamin and mineral deficiency and imbalance. In my opinion,
this is the most common cause of disease in our culture today. Leaky
gut is commonly found in people who have used antibiotics and anti-inflammatory
medication or who have poor nutritional habits (bad diet) or vitamin
deficiency. Most people with leaky gut have a tremendous number
of vitamin and mineral deficiencies.
Q
I’ve heard a lot about
the impor- tance of detoxifying my body to get rid of leaky gut.
Is it really necessary? And what does it do?
A
In most situations where a person
has had any continuing symptoms of pain, fatigue, headaches, swelling,
joint or muscle aches, breathing problems, etc., they are usually
toxic – full of poisons, drugs, bad food, pollutants,
and so on. This toxicity must be addressed to have any chance of
correcting leaky gut syndrome. Detoxification gets rid of the poisons,
toxins, sludge and stored garbage that are trapped in the intestine
and all over the body. Once this cleanse is accomplished, a good
detox shake replenishes the body with all the nutrients needed to
keep the body clean. In addition, a good detox shake supplies the
necessary vitamins to rapidly increase your energy level. What I
find is that if the body is toxic, that toxicity has to be handled
first before any other therapy will work. Therefore, I usually recommend
the right detox program as your first action.
Q
How do I know if I am toxic?
Are there symptoms to watch for?
A
There are several indicators of toxicity. Usually, the worse these
are, the worse your toxicity is. They are:
1. Darkness around the eyes and temples.
2. Fatigue or sudden lack of energy.
3. Shortness of breath, irregular breathing problems of any kind.
4. Irritability.
5. Gas, bloating, indigestion or heartburn. People have been
taught that these symptoms are a normal part of life, but that is
not true. If you have even the smallest amount of any one or all
of these four problems, it is an indication of incomplete digestion,
poor absorption or toxicity.
6. Any numbness or swelling in the hands or ankles.
7. Itchy or dry skin.
8. Headaches that do not go away easily or do not respond well to
aspirin or come back with a vengeance after the aspirin has worn
off.
9. Severe headaches before or during your menstrual period.
10. Very odorous stool from your bowel movements.
11. Loss of attention span or flightiness.
12. Emotional or dramatic outbursts.
13. High cholesterol.
14. High blood pressure.
Q
My problem isn’t leaky
gut. I have been told it is he- reditary, which makes sense because
my mom has it and so did her mom. Isn’t that true?
A
Well, this is a common misconception.
Although many health problems are said to be hereditary, most of
them are not. In fact, most of the patients I have worked with over
the years have been told by at least one of their doctors that their
health problem was hereditary. Yet, when they applied what I told
them, their health problem went away. The truth is if you find the
cause of the problem and correct it, your problem will go away.
Leaky gut has been known about for many years but has not been widely
understood by mainstream health care practitioners. Therefore, it
has been all but hidden. However, after working with over 8,000
patients with various “hereditary” diseases and their
horrible symptoms, I have concluded that leaky gut syndrome must
be addressed before any long-term improvement can be expected.
Q
Is there some way of telling
how bad my health prob- lem really is?
A
The truth is that if you have any symptoms of pain, fatigue, insomnia,
headache, joint ache, or other symptoms of disease, that means
you should get busy repairing your body right now. Chronic disease
occurs a little at a time, building up over a period of time.
When a symptom occurs, it means the body has passed the point
of being able to heal whatever is going on and is now begging
for help. A symptom is similar to a “warning light,”
like the low-oil light in the car. The low-oil light does not
come on until most of the oil has already leaked out. It is the
last line of defense to let you know that if you do not replenish
your oil soon, your engine will be ruined. Well, a symptom in
the body is just like the low-oil light in the car. It is saying
that something serious is wrong and if you do not find out what
it is and fix it soon, something serious is happening or is going
to happen.
Dr. Jimmy Gatza is a Clearwater,
Florida chiropractor, naturopathic medical doctor and author of
"The End of Health Roulette," a book which outlines
the five basic keys to being healthy. (727) 298-1133.
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