Leaky Gut Symptoms: Are You Affected?

Although you may not have heard of it before, having a ‘leaky gut’ is very common and is associated with loads of symptoms and conditions all around your body. Not only the symptoms you may be experiencing with your gut, but also if you’re having difficulty losing weight or have allergies, for example.

Fixing a leaky gut (yes, it can be done) can alleviate a lot of symptoms, some trivial, some a bit more serious.

So what is ‘leaky gut’ exactly?

Your intestines are lined with a single layer of cells that are linked together by tight junctions. When you have leaky gut these tight junctions aren’t working as they should.

The gaps between the cells lining your gut determine what can pass through into your bloodstream from your digestive system. They need to be tight enough to ensure that no nasties pass through, but have enough room between them to allow the things we do want to pass through – vital nutrients for example.

When you have leaky gut, certain particles that shouldn’t be able to enter your bloodstream start to leak through. 

Much of your immune system is also located throughout your gut, and this may also be affected. The result being possible inflammation and autoimmune reactions.

What might cause a ‘leaky gut?’

Genes – some people may be more likely to develop leaky gut because they are sensitive to certain environmental triggers, causing their bodies to mount autoimmune responses.

Diet – certain foods are more likely to cause allergic or inflammatory responses. The main offenders tend to be

• grains, particularly wheat
• added refined sugar
• genetically modified foods
• refined oils
• food additives, and
• processed dairy products.

Stress – chronic, unrelenting stress will take its toll on your body in many ways. Therefore learning techniques to manage it is vital.

Toxins – The worst offenders as far as your gut is concerned are chemicals in household products; for example cosmetics, hair dyes and washing powder, together with alcohol, prescription drugs such as antibiotics and NSAIDS, drinking unfiltered water and pesticides.

Toxins are everywhere and it’d be unrealistic to try and avoid them entirely, but switching to natural household products and cosmetic brands, filtering your water and opting for organic foods where possible will go a long way to reducing your toxic load.

Leaky Gut Symptoms: Dysbiosis –

This is where the good and bad bacteria which live in your gut get out of balance. The pathogenic bacteria and yeasts get too much of a stranglehold and start to cause damage to your gut, and throughout your body too. A large body of evidence now shows that gut microbiota are important in supporting the cells lining your gut, and preventing autoimmune reactions.

If you’re worried your diet is impacting your gut health, and also your sleep, I’d highly recommend downloading my online course The Ultimate Gut Health Programme to help support both your digestive sysem and hormone health, whilst avoiding triggering symptoms.

It’d be impossible to include all you need to know in one blog, but the programme will have all you need to know to ensure you’re soothing your digestive system, whilst eating delicious and filling foods.

So, how do you know if this is affecting you?

Here are some of the main leaky gut symptoms –

Leaky gut symptoms and signs

• IBS
• Crohn’s, ulcerative colitis
• Small Intestine Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO)

• Metabolic diseases such as fatty liver or Type II diabetes
• Autoimmune disease
• Chronic fatigue syndrome
• Propensity towards weight gain or obesity

At the current time it’s not known for sure if having a leaky gut causes these conditions, but its safe to say that leaky gut tends to occur concurrently with these other issues.

How to overcome leaky gut symptoms

There are basically four main steps I recommend in order to repair a leaky gut, these are –

• Establish what your trigger foods are, and remove them from your diet.
• Ascertain which diet and/or lifestyle factors have given rise to leaky gut – for example, ongoing stress or medications.
• Repair the gut lining with herbs and/or supplements.
• Rebalance the microflora with probiotics.