When gut health is poor, then some food sensitivities start to present.

Common symptoms of food sensitivities:

Bloating, constipation, diarrhea, nausea, IBS

Brain fog

Fatigue

Muscles aches and pains

Headaches and migraines

Hives and skin rashes

Asthma and respiratory symptoms

What constitutes poor gut health?

Essentially it’s gut damage and an insufficiency in healthy bacteria / or overgrowth of unhealthy bacteria that creates an unhealthy gut environment. Leaky gut triggers an inflammatory response when food particles, bacteria, and endotoxins leak through the tight junctions in the gut wall and cause inflammation.

What causes the gut damage?

Overgrowth of pathogenic bacteria, yeasts, and parasites that adhere to the gut wall and cause damage.

Other things cause damage to the gut wall too: inflammatory foods, medications, stress, undigested foods/lack of digestive enzymes, chemicals, food sensitivities which are not identified or addressed, coeliac.

When there is damage to the gut wall, symptoms start to show after you eat specific foods. Usually the longer you leave gut damage and the worse it gets, the more sensitivities you have.

The most common food sensitivities are:

Dairy

Gluten

Histamines

FODMAPS

Fructose

Avoiding dietary triggers can offer relief, however an overly restrictive diet can produce further complications to digestive health long-term. Many of the commonly eliminated foods in these kinds of diets are important to maintain healthy diversity of the gut microbiome (particularly FODMAPS foods).

Therefore, long term dietary restrictions can end up worsening gut health for the patient. Elimination should only be the first step to a broader treatment for food allergies.

Chronic adherence to restrictive diets has been shown to deplete bacterial species in the microbiome and negatively impact digestive health. While such diets are beneficial to produce therapeutic gains in the short-term, they should be viewed as acute interventions and not lifelong diets. 

The biggest mistake I see is that people just remove the trigger foods, but fail to address the underlying issue.

The best way to heal from these sensitivities for good, is to remove the trigger for a short-medium term AND follow a healing protocol and anti-inflammatory diet.

The naturopathic treatment aims

• Identify and remove dietary triggers (short-medium term).
• Reduce gastric inflammation and mediate allergic response.
• Restore healthy balance in the microbiota.
• Facilitate regular bowel movements.
• Gentle digestive enzymatic support if required.
• Heal the gut lining.

Identify what types of pathogenic bacteria, parasites, and yeast are inside your gut and correct the imbalance. (You can do this via a stool test, book with us and we’ll talk you through the steps).

Probiotic therapy is effective in restoring balance to the microbiome. Strain-specific probiotic treatment is most effective, so find out which strains of healthy bacteria you are low in.

Taking enzymes if you are low; specifically digestive enzymes including amylase, protease, lipase.

Incorporate foods that are healing for the gut wall such as glutamine, slippery elm bark, curcumin, zinc, collagen, mastic gum, aloe vera, omega 3s, bone broth, and herbal medicines.

Addressing microbial disturbance, correcting digestive function of enzyme secretion, restoring diversity in beneficial gut bacteria, and healing the gut lining are all important factors in addressing food sensitivities.

If you experience food sensitivities, and would like to find out more, make a time to speak to us and we can identify your food triggers, help to identify your underlying gut issues, and get you on track with gut healing.

 

Yvette is a qualified Naturopath and Nutritionist, MINDD Practitioner, member of the Naturopaths and Herbalists Association of Australia.

Yvette specialises in the treatment of gut health and digestive complaints, skin issues, mood disorders, hormonal concerns, fatigue, and more.

Yvette sees patients Australia-wide.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Naturopathic Co. 2023 Melbourne Naturopath, South Yarra Naturopath, Naturopath Sydney, Naturopath Perth, Naturopath Adelaide, Naturopath Canberra, Naturopath Gold Coast, Naturopath Sunshine Coast, Naturopath Brisbane, Naturopath Cairns.