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My gut healing protocol. This is the story about how I restored my gut health through a targeted gut healing protocol under the supervision of a qualified medical professional. Through my gut healing protocol, I was able to eradicate a parasitic and bacterial overgrowth, heal leaky gut, and hormone imbalances.

Read More about How I Healed My Gut, Part One: My Gut Healing Protocol

Supplements for gut health and immune support. This post gives in-depth information about some of my most trusted gut healing supplements. For those with digestive or gut troubles, here are some supplements for gut health that can be healing for the GI. 

Gut Healing Supplements

Disclaimer: I am not a health professional and am not recommending any specific healing protocol in this post. Before making any changes to your health and lifestyle, be sure you seek advice from a qualified individual.

As a follow up to my blog posts detailing my gut healing story, I wanted to share some of the supplements I take regularly to maintain my gut health. 

One of the most transformative actions I’ve taken to improve my gut health has been sticking with a very specific supplement regimen. 

While I do think mindful diet and exercise are crucial to maintaining good gut health, it wasn’t until I incorporated certain supplements into my daily routine that I began seeing drastic improvements to my gut.

I’m featuring supplements that are exclusive to iHerb.com, who is the sponsor of this post. These are tried and true supplements, which I took great care in testing before recommending!

Gut Healing Supplements for IBS, Leaky Gut, SIBO, and more
To catch you up if you’re new to my story, I experienced IBS symptoms for a number of years. After working with my practitioner over the last year, my IBS symptoms have disappeared and my gut health has improved dramatically.

In order to keep my health on an upward trajectory, I stay consistent with taking my supplements. I won’t need to take these supplements forever, but they have been incredibly useful in both healing my gut and maintaining gut health.

You don’t have to have a GI that is in complete disarray to benefit from certain supplements. In fact, simply adding probiotics (if you don’t normally take them), omega-3s (if you don’t eat fish regularly) AND/OR a Vitamin D supplement can provide an enormous boost to your immune system.

This is not to say we should all be popping pills all day long. While there are so many healing supplements available to help with gut and digestive issues, it is important to take some of them under the care of a practitioner to get the appropriate dosage.

That said, the supplements I discuss in this post are generally recommended by most medical professionals (regardless of whether they are considered western, holistic, integrative, etc.) to be helpful to gut health and can be taken safely by most individuals.

Remember, it is important to make incremental changes slowly and if you are ever concerned about the effect something will have or any possible side effects, always seek the guidance of a medical professional before proceeding with a new supplement.

Without further adieu, here are some of the supplements I take to maintain my gut health.

Read More about Supplements for Gut Health

How to cook rice and potatoes for optimal digestion. Preparing rice (and other grains), potatoes, legumes, nuts and seeds properly unlocks the nutrients and ensures they aid rather than hinder digestion. 

There continues to be debate in the health community as to whether or not rice and potatoes are considered “healthy.” Are they pro-inflammatory and raise blood sugar? Do they irritate the gut lining? Are they too full of “empty” carbs?

The paleo community has long debated whether or not either or both are permissible, because while both have been a part of the human diet for over 3,500 years, both contain lectins, which can cause gastrointestinal issues or autoimmune flairs when they aren’t properly prepared.

I wrote an article titled Is Rice Paleo?, where I go into detail about the downsides of various types of rice (white, brown, wild, forbidden, etc), versus the potential health benefits. Check out the article if you want a deep dive into rice and why it could both be considered potentially harmful or healthful.

Korean Bulgogi and Rice Bowls with broccoli and kimchi | TheRoastedRoot.net #healthy #dinner #recipe

The heated debate on rice and potatoes goes back to lectins (which are bad) and resistant starch (which is good). Fortunately, the way we prepare rice and potatoes can largely destroy active lectins and also make the resistant starch easier to digest, improving gut health and promoting regular bowel movements.

First, let’s discuss lectins and resistant starch.

What are Lectins?:

Lectins are proteins that bind to carbohydrate and serve as anti-nutrients. The purpose of lectins is to protect the plant from digestion so that if an animal were to eat it, the plant can survive the digestive process and still germinate after defecation.

Lectins are found in grains, potatoes, legumes, nuts, and seeds.

When consumed raw or undercooked, lectins in their active state can cause interfere with the absorption of minerals, especially calcium, iron, phosphorus, and zinc. Phytohaemagglutinin, a type of lectin found in undercooked kidney beans, cause red blood cells to clump together. It can also produce nausea, vomiting, stomach upset, diarrhea, bloating and gas. 

Lectins can bind to cells lining the GI tract, which may disrupt the breakdown and absorption of nutrients. It can also affect the growth of intestinal flora. Because lectin proteins bind to cells for long periods of time, they can potentially cause an autoimmune response and inflammatory conditions like rheumatoid arthritis and type 1 diabetes.

The good news is, boiling lectin-containing foods deactivates the lectins, thereby removing the anti-nutrient property from them. The kicker is, they must be properly boiled or cooked, lest some of the lectins remain.

Ginger Turmeric Aromatic Rice

 

What is Resistant Starch?

Resistant starch plays an important role in digestion. Resistant starch is called such because it is resistant to digestion. It moves along your digestive system and arrives in your colon intact.

Resistant starch may help prevent colon cancer (due to its ability to bind food together to help it move through your body), improves your insulin resistance, makes you feel full and helps you sleep at night. We need both digestible and indigestible foods in order to keep our bowel movements regular and well-formed.

Now that we’ve covered the cons (lectins) and the pros (resistant starch and easy-to-digest carbohydrate), let’s discuss how to cook rice and potatoes for optimal digestion.

Read More about How to Cook Rice and Potatoes for Optimal Digestion

How to achieve great digestion for improved energy, mood, mental clarity, disease prevention, and more!   Yesterday, I posted Part One of this mini series on How to Improve Your Digestion, where I provided some very basic tips on kicking your digestive steeze up a notch. I wanted to dive deeper into the subject of …

Read More about How to Improve Your Digestion (Part Two)

Good digestion boosts your energy level and libido, improves your overall physical and mental health. Illness and wellness begins in your gut!

Happy 2020!

It’s that time again! Many of us are setting goals for the year ahead, some of which revolve around health and wellness.

It is typical to set aesthetic goals at the beginning of a New Year. In my vain opinion, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. Being happy with your appearance is not selfish or shallow; however, looking internally is the most efficient way of creating long-term waves in your overall health and appearance.

The single most impactful decision I have made regarding my own physical health has been focusing on good digestion.

With good digestion comes high energy, good mood, improved metabolism, hormonal balance, and healthy weight maintenance. All systems in our bodies are interconnected, and our wellness thrives in our gut.

In this sense, rather being laser focused on my body’s aesthetic on the outside, I try to stay mindful about looking internally at the state of my gut health. The happier my gut, the better I look and feel all around.

Many of my friends and family suffer from digestive issues of some sort, whether the frequency of GI upset is occasional, frequent, or daily. For this reason, I thought it would be useful to share some tips on proper digestion to help ease any sort of digestive unrest and also set the stage for long-term wellness.

In my cookbook, Paleo Power Bowls, I touch on some of the fundamentals of good digestion. Because GI discomfort seems to be a very common source of discontent lately, I wanted to dive deeper into the concept of improving digestion.

Disclosure: I am not a healthcare professional and have no ground to stand on in the health community. What I have years of experience figuring out my own digestion. I simply have years of my own trial and error and the assistance of Western, functional, and holistic doctors. Not to mention a ridiculous amount of googling, book and article reading, and podcast listening.

This is Part One of a two-part mini series on digestion. Part One (right here) includes very basic tips, many of which are intuitive. In Part Two, which I will be posting tomorrow), I will dive deeper by discussing specific medical tests that can help you pinpoint the root cause of any digestive ailments.

LET’S GOOOO!

Here are some tips on…

HOW TO IMPROVE DIGESTION

Read More about How to Improve Your Digestion (Part One)

A review of Butcher Box, an online high-quality grass-fed, organic meat supplier. In this post I provide a review of Butcher Box and also discuss the reasons why I eat meat.

My fellow carnivores! Do I have a treat for you?!

Butcher Box Review

I eat a lot of animal protein…every single day. I want to give you a little background as to why I choose to consume meat, but first I want to tell you all about Butcher Box.  Have you tried it yet?

What is Butcher Box?

Butcher Box is an online-based company that sources the highest quality 100% grass-fed, grass-finished beef, heritage breed pork, and organic free-range chicken. Their meat is always antibiotic-free and humanely raised without hormones. Learn more about how Butcher Box sources its meat HERE.

You can place orders any time you’d like or have a monthly subscription (which comes with perks!). This is a no-obligation or commitment service, so you can order as frequently or infrequently as you’d like. The product is absolutely amazing, the service is so convenient, and the best part about all of it? It’s AFFORDABLE!

The product is packaged well in dry ice and arrives at your doorstep frozen, so you never need to worry about it thawing in transit. Once you receive your order, you can freeze your meat or thaw it for use. ButcherBox.com has plenty of recipes for your convenience, or you can always fire up the google machine to get recipe ideas.

Butcher Box Review

How it Works:

Step 1: Select your Box: Butcher box has some pre-curated boxes you can choose from (for instance, all beef, beef + chicken, beef + chicken + pork, beef + pork, etc.), or you can customize your own.

Step 2: Your Order Ships: Your beautiful box of meat arrives at your doorstep, ready for you to use or freeze.

Step 3: FEAST! Enjoy your favorite meals using Butcher Box’s amazing meat, and explore new dishes.

For my first order, I chose a mixed box, which included beef, chicken, and pork. Because I don’t discriminate when it comes to animal protein, I’ll likely continue ordering a mix.

Discounts & Promotions:

If you place an order through THIS LINKyou will get $15 off you first order, a free package of bacon, and free shipping.

Butcher Box is also running a promotion now through September 30 where new customers receive 2 pounds of Grass-Fed Ground Beef for free in EVERY order for the lifetime of your subscription. IMO, this is just too good to pass up!  If you’re interested, sign up for the Ground Beef For Life Promo throughTHIS LINK .

Head over to Butcher Box  to get free shipping, $15 off your first order, AND free bacon!

Okay, now we can get a little personal.

Why I Eat Meat

Read More about Butcher Box Review + Why I Eat Meat

My ultimate guide to soothing an upset stomach and relieving IBS symptoms naturally. These easy at-home remedies are affordable (or free) and help get your digestive system back in order quickly. Photo Credit: Jen Schmidt Photography. I’ve found there are three areas of focus when it comes to healing my gut naturally and maintaining gut …

Read More about 8 Natural Remedies That Help Relieve IBS Symptoms