- Module 1: Heal Your Gut to Overcome Anxiety and Depression
- Common gut problems can cause and perpetuate mood disorders.
- By healing the gut, we can support mental balance and relieve the symptoms of anxiety and depression.
- When you affect the gut, you will affect the brain. When you affect the brain, you will affect the gut. You cannot separate the two.
- The way we start to get brain health is actually by taking care of our gut and optimizing that.
- The gut and the brain are connected through a multitude of ways. The first one is through the neurological system, and that neurological system is directly connected to the brain to the Vagus nerve.
- The second way is through the immunological system.
- There is also a lymphatic system that is present in your brain that was actually recently discovered.
- The third way is through your normal circulatory system.
- 90% to 95% of serotonin is not produced in the brain. It is produced in the gut. 50% of dopamine is produced in the gut.
- Some of the consequences that we’ve seen that are associated with dysbiosis, or a leaky gut, are anxiety, depression, PTSD, autism, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, just to name a few.
- We need a healthy gut to have a healthy brain – and we can’t have a healthy gut without a healthy microbiome.
- The microbiome is the collection of micro-organisms, bacteria, fungi, archaea, viruses, even potentially parasites.
- The common gut problems that lead to chronic disease, emotional imbalance, and cognitive dysfunction are loss of microbial diversity, loss of keystone strains, and leaky gut.
- Dysbiosis (leaky gut) means that there is a loss of balance within the gut microbes.
- The 5 R’s to heal a leaky gut:
- Remove – remove toxic food from your diet – processed food, chemicals, gluten, dairy, alcohol, and certain other foods that tend to be inflammatory – do an elimination diet.
- Repair – give nutrients like glutamine or coating agents like aloe or marshmallow root to help calm and soothe and nourish the gut lining cells.
- Replace – via digestive enzymes, or even a little stomach acid to help heal the leaky gut.
- Repopulate – via probiotics.
- Restore the spirit – via mood, emotions and stress control.
- Increase the diversity in your microbiome.
- Three foundational things that can lead to chronic illness and especially emotional and cognitive dysfunctions: loss of diversity within the microbiome, the the loss of keystone strains (critical microorganisms essential for health) and increased permeability in the guy (leaky gut/dysbiosis).
- Healing leaky gut requires a multipronged approach that includes treating the root cause(s) of dysfunction, restoring the microbiome, and repairing the gut lining.
- Treating the root cause(s): food sensitivities (gluten and gliadin from wheat, genetically modified (GMO) foods, unsprouted grains, caffeine, dairy, sugar, alcohol), toxins (environmental), stress, medications, hormonal imbalances, vitamin D deficiency.
- Gut-healing diet and supplements:
- Foods:
- greens, fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, grains & beans
- organic foods
- fermented foods
- omega 3 fatty acids, e.g. chia seeds, walnuts, flaxseeds, and algae oil
- well-cooked, easy-to-digest vegetables, e.g. pumpkin, carrots, sweet potatoes, and spinach
- foods that contain mucilage (repairs the mucous membranes of the body), e.g. okra, flaxseeds, chia seeds, seaweed, and plantain.
- bitter foods, e.g. kale, dandelion greens, arugula, radishes, and endive.
- Supplements:
- aloe vera, deglycyrrhizinated licorice (DGL), marshmallow root, slippery elm bark, L-Glutamine (the most popular supplement for healing leaky gut), butyric acid, quercetin,
- Boost immunity:
- prioritize sleep, exercise regularly, reduce stress, enjoy healthy exposure to the sun
- Immune-boosting foods: citrus fruits, blueberries, kiwi, garlic, spinach, broccoli, green leafy vegetables, mushrooms, almonds, sunflower seeds, miso, sauerkraut, ginger, tumeric, cinnamon, and green tea.
- Key supplements for immune health: Vitamin C, Vitamin D, Vitamin E, Selenium, Zinc, Elderberry, Echinacea, Medicinal mushrooms
- Microbiome Restoration:
- restore diversity and abundance to the microbiome in the digestive tract.
- spend time in nature
- Most experts agree that prebiotic fiber is the single most important nutrient for a healthy gut.
- Foods rich in prebiotics: cabbage, garlic, chickpeas, nectarines, grapefruit, cashews, and pistachio nuts.
- Prebiotic fiber supplements: partially hydrolysed guar gum (PHGG), D-mannose, acacia fiber, glucomannan, inulin.
