Gut Health & Food Allergies Part 2

Gut Health & Food Allergies Part 2

The gut health series is an exploration gut health and what people are doing to improve it. There has been a lot of talk about gut health circulating in the allergy community and my journey. I wanted to share my exploration of this topic – it should not be taken as medical advice. Healing your gut will not cure food allergies. It can improve some aspects of your health because let’s face it; you will be practising healthy conscious eating, which can only lead to good things (in my mind at least). When reading this series, please note it is an exploration of a topic. Always consult your doctor or allergist about any treatment plans.

The opinions expressed in this interview are those of Dr. Vivian of AllergyFamilies.

Part two with Dr. Vivian: Gut Health & Food Allergies

How are allergies and the gut connected?

When the gut barrier is broken and the friendly gut bacteria are not present, the immune system might get confused and start to recognize food as foes rather than friends. I believe that if your gut is leaky (intestinal permeability) – larger, more undigested food proteins can leak into the blood stream and trigger immune reactions.

What have you done for your family to improve their gut health?

Having realised the importance of the gut microbiome early on in our journey, I adopted ways to improve my kids’ gut health (read more about that). To summarise:

1. I give them fermented foods

2. They take a good quality, broad spectrum probiotic

3. Their diet is high in prebiotic food, with lots of vegetables and fruits (which encourage the growth of healthy friendly bacteria – you can change your gut microbiome by changing your diet, this is the best way to improve your gut health, better than probiotic supplements which often contain specific strains and there is just no proven ‘best strain’)

4. Reduce their sugar intake (because this feeds the bad bacteria) and eliminate processed food – sugar and processed foods can really tip the balance of bacteria in the gut – many ready-made snacks, breakfast cereals are full of sugar – so check labels, and look at how many grams of sugar per serving is in the foods. A lot of people take probiotics because they are touted to be ‘gut healers’. I take probiotics and give them to my kids, however, these are expensive and in my opinion, a sugar-laden diet will undo the ‘good’ of probiotics

5. Get them outdoors to maximize vitamin D, exercising, gardening with me (because soil is a source of bacteria, so are dogs, and studies have shown having a pet dog reduces children’s risk for developing allergies and asthma)

6. Be judicious about medication intake especially antibiotics which have huge impact on the gut microbiome (not saying don’t take them, these are life-saving treatments, and you should follow your doctor’s advice, but being a medic I have seen them over-prescribed and used inappropriately)

7. Reduce toxins – filter your water (chemicals in your water can harm the gut microbiome), reduce household toxins (again, these are directly toxic to your gut microbiome), look at your food sources (do they contain herbicides and pesticides which also harm your gut flora? Meat can contain a lot of pesticides and antibiotics because the animals have eaten plants sprayed with pesticides and fed antibiotics, and these are accumulated in the meat over time), heavy alcohol intake will affect your gut bacteria too (not saying, don’t indulge but it is a factor you should take into consideration). I have written a two part series on Gut health with more details.

What is one thing that someone could do to start their gut health transformation?

The first thing and most important thing is changing their diet. Even if you don’t adopt a plant-based diet, try to incorporate whole-foods, eat more plants, more fruits, and the wider the range, the better. This will feed the good bacteria in your gut, encourage them to grow.

Thank you Vivian for sharing your gut journey with me. Next up in the Gut Health Series we explore bone broth with one of the inventors behind the Berlin based brand, Brox.

Original article and pictures take www.allergygirleats.com site