The Main Causes of Digestive Imbalances & How to Fix Them, Part 2
In Part 1: Assessment using the DIGIN model we reviewed the main categories of digestive imbalances.
So, how do you know if you have digestive imbalances? Here are the signs your gut is out of whack:
Urgency or abdominal discomfort
Recurrent gas, bloating or belching
Migraines
Fatigue
Food sensitivities or intolerances
Vitamin or mineral deficiencies
Inability to lose weight
Brain fog, anxiety or depression
Irritable bowel syndrome
Autoimmunity
Skin issues like acne, eczema or psoriasis
Chronic bad breath
Hormone imbalances
Inflammation
Loose stool, diarrhea or constipation
If you said yes to any of those, keep reading to find out the functional medicine framework for gut restoration!
Part 2: Repair Using The 5Rs
The 5R framework is a functional medicine approach meant to reinforce the foundational pillars of a healthy gut. This isn’t a one size fits all protocol that will look the same for everyone. There can be many different layers of your personalized 5R approach that are adjusted over time and unique to your root causes and situation.
When it comes to rebalancing the gut, the 5R framework is an amazing tool to get you the results you’ve been looking for in a strategic, evidence-based way.
Remove
Remove anything that’s stressing the gut and negatively affecting the microbiome. This might include allergic, sensitive or inflammatory foods, parasites and potential problematic bacteria or yeast. An elimination diet might be used to help determine if there are any foods contributing to your symptoms. The remove phase may also include using herbs, botanicals or medications to kill certain bugs.
This is why I’m an advocate for functional testing. In order to create the most personalized protocol for someone and know what to remove, you need to gather more information. Testing can provide the insight you’ve been lacking so you can finally see what’s behind your symptoms. This allows us to work faster too, because we know exactly what we’re targeting early on instead of guessing through a process of elimination.
Replace
With the help of a functional stool test we can identify what you’re lacking that’s preventing your gut from staying balanced. This might mean supplementing with digestive enzymes, hydrochloric acid, or bile acids that we need for proper digestion.
This is a huge area I see a lot of dysfunction in. When you’re not able to properly digest and absorb your food, you’ll have excess food components arriving to the colon practically serving up a buffet for your bacteria to overeat on. Correcting these insufficiencies can alleviate your symptoms pretty quickly and correct a root cause behind your dysbiosis.
Diet, medications, diseases, aging and other factors impact your ability to digest your food optimally.
Re-inoculate
The reinoculate phase involves feeding the gut in a way that helps beneficial bacteria grow. This involves eating more probiotic-rich foods like yogurt, miso, tempeh, and fermented foods to reinoculate our gut with beneficial bacteria like bifidobacteria and lactobacillus. Probiotic foods and supplements are especially useful if you’ve been on antibiotics.
Our good bugs love to eat fiber rich foods. Foods high in soluble fiber are also high in prebiotics, the food our good bacteria thrive on. Prebiotics are food for probiotics which means they work together synergistically.
Food sources of prebiotics include garlic, artichokes, asparagus, leeks, onion, chicory, tofu, flax. There are several options for prebiotic supplements like acacia fiber, inulin, FOS, guar gum, psyllium husk, apple or citrus pectin.
You may feel better taking certain prebiotics and probiotics so it’s best to work with a practitioner to customize your diet and supplements.
Repair
Once we’ve removed any gut irritants, optimized digestion and absorption, and provided fuel for our beneficial gut bugs, we focus on repairing the lining of the gut. The gut lining can become damaged by environmental toxins, our diet, dysbiosis, leaky gut, immune responses, and our lifestyle. If you remember from Part 1, we develop leaky gut when the gut lining becomes damaged or inflamed.
General recommendations when trying to heal an inflamed gut are to cut NSAIDs and alcohol out since these are known irritants to the gut. Increasing your fiber intake (both soluble and insoluble) will help build and maintain a healthy mucosal barrier, repair and regrow damaged cells, and lower gut inflammation.
Some options for repairing your gut lining and lowering inflammation are bone broth, L-glutamine, aloe vera, vitamin A, fish oil, collagen, slippery elm, marshmallow root, zinc, and turmeric or curcumin. The level of support you’ll need depends on the degree of inflammation and damage that you have.
Rebalance
Rebalance is the real MVP. No amount of diet changes or supplements can outweigh a poor lifestyle.
Like we discussed in Part 1, the enteric nervous system (ENS) is the nervous system in our digestive tract. People with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) tend to have a hypersensitive ENS and need more gut-brain axis support to fully eliminate their symptoms and heal their gut.
Stress has a profound impact on gut health and can result in the following:
Changes in motility
Increases leaky gut
Interferes with digestion and gastric secretions
Shifts your microbiome towards dysbiosis
Prevents your body’s ability to heal and repair
Increases inflammation
Rebalance is a crucial piece of gut restoration. In this phase we look outside of the physical body and focus on your lifestyle: sleep, exercise/movement, and stress management.
Ways to strengthen this area and in turn, strengthen your gut health, are meditation, journaling, plenty of quality sleep, fun activities that bring you joy, time in nature, and a movement practice that you enjoy and can be consistent with.
I hope you enjoyed Part 1 and 2 of the Main Causes of Digestive Imbalances & How to Fix Them! If you’re ready to take action and identify your unique root causes of digestive imbalances and use a personalized protocol to fix them, apply for an Initial Nutrition Assessment to discuss how we can work together!
About Kyle
Kyle Maiorana is a functional medicine Registered Dietitian Nutritionist and real food advocate who takes a whole-person, root-cause, evidence-based approach to wellness. She works with clients to eliminate gut symptoms for good.
