Ever heard of leaky gut — or its more scientific name, intestinal permeability? Even if it’s new to you, chances are it could be at the root of many frustrating symptoms you’re dealing with right now.  Read on to learn more about leaky gut causes and symptoms. 

From bloating and food sensitivities to brain fog, skin flare-ups and stubborn weight gain — yes, even that — the causes of leaky gut can trigger problems all over your body. The good news? You can fix it — and it starts with knowing the signs.

Let’s dive into the top causes of leaky gut and how to spot if it’s affecting you.

🚨 First things first: What is leaky gut?

Your gut lining isn’t just a passive tube – it’s an intelligent barrier made of cells tightly joined together. These tight junctions control what gets absorbed into your bloodstream – and what should stay out.

But when those junctions get “leaky”, undigested food particles, toxins and pathogens can sneak through. Your immune system notices – and often freaks out, triggering inflammation, autoimmune reactions and a host of mystery symptoms.

💥 Leaky Gut Causes You Need to Know

1. Your Genes

Some people are simply more sensitive to environmental triggers – and their immune system may overreact to things others can tolerate just fine.

2. Your Diet

Certain foods are known to irritate the gut lining or provoke inflammatory responses. Usual suspects include:

• Gluten (especially wheat)

• Refined sugar

• GMOs

• Refined vegetable oils

• Artificial additives

• Processed dairy

Cutting back on these can do wonders for your gut health.

3. Stress (the silent saboteur)

Chronic, unmanaged stress wreaks havoc on your digestive system and weakens your gut barrier. Stress management isn’t a luxury — it’s essential.

If you’re worried about your gut health, I’d highly recommend downloading my online course The Ultimate Gut Health Programme to help support your digestive system, 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.

4. Toxins (they’re hiding everywhere)

Your gut faces daily attacks from things like:

• Household cleaners

• Conventional cosmetics and hair dyes

• Antibiotics and NSAIDs

• Unfiltered tap water

• Pesticide-laced food

You don’t need to go full detox hippie – but switching to natural products, filtering your water and eating organic when possible helps lighten the load.

5. Dysbiosis (gut bugs gone rogue)

Your gut is home to trillions of bacteria — some friendly, some not so much. When the bad guys take over, they damage your gut lining, disrupt your immune system and fuel inflammation.

1. Thyroid imbalances

2. Fatty liver or Type II diabetes

3. Autoimmune conditions

4. Chronic fatigue

5. Weight gain or difficulty losing weight

💡 We don’t yet know if leaky gut causes these conditions — but they’re often found side-by-side.

🗣️ Want Personalised Support?

📞 Book a call with me – use the link, below.

Or grab my FREE gut health mini-program, link below — it’s the perfect first step toward a happier, healthier gut.

Can’t Sleep? The Real Culprit Might Be Hiding in Your Gut – read on to learn more about gut health and sleep.

Tossing and turning at night? Waking up at 3 a.m. for no good reason? You’re far from alone. But what if I told you the answer to your sleep struggles isn’t just in your head — it’s in your gut?

It might sound surprising, but science is uncovering powerful links between your gut health and the quality of your sleep. In fact, your gut and brain are in constant conversation — and when your gut’s not happy, your sleep suffers.

Let’s explore how your gut microbiome could be sabotaging your rest, who’s most at risk, and what you can do to turn things around.

🧠 How Your Gut Shapes Your Sleep

Your gut microbiome — the trillions of bacteria living in your digestive tract — doesn’t just influence digestion. It also plays a key role in regulating your circadian rhythm, sleep hormones, and your overall ability to fall and stay asleep.

Here’s how:

• Alters your circadian rhythm (your internal body clock)

• Influences melatonin and serotonin, which are crucial for sleep

• Impacts your sleep-wake cycle and how much time you actually spend in restful sleep

In short: a rich and diverse gut microbiome is linked with better, deeper, more restorative sleep.

🌀 Serotonin: The Gut-Sleep Connection

Serotonin is often called the “feel-good hormone,” but did you know it also regulates your sleep cycle? Around 90% of your serotonin is made in the gut, and your gut bacteria directly influence how much of it your body produces.

When gut health is out of balance — for example, after a course of antibiotics — serotonin levels often drop, and sleep quality goes with it. In mouse studies, a disrupted gut microbiome meant lower serotonin and significantly worse sleep.

😴 Poor Sleep? Your Gut Feels It Too

This relationship goes both ways. Just as gut health affects sleep, lack of sleep damages your gut — quickly.

Even a few nights of disrupted sleep can:

• Reduce microbial diversity

• Encourage harmful bacteria to thrive

• Trigger bloating and digestive issues

Your gut bacteria are highly responsive to your sleep patterns. In fact, night waking and sleep deprivation seem to encourage the growth of less desirable bacteria — the kind that cause gas, inflammation, and more.

If you’re worried about your gut health, I’d highly recommend downloading my online course The Ultimate Gut Health Programme to help support your digestive system, 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.

🥦 What to Eat to Help Sleep and Heal Your Gut

If you’re struggling with sleep and suspect your gut might be playing a role, start by nourishing your microbiome.

Probiotic-rich fermented foods:

• Live, natural yogurt (no sugar, no flavourings)

• Kefir (dairy or non-dairy)

• Sauerkraut

• Miso

• Tempeh

🗣️ Want Personalised Support?

Gut health and sleep are deeply connected — but everyone’s story is unique. If you’d like to explore your symptoms, and how I might be able to help, I offer a FREE 30-minute consultation to chat through your health concerns and next steps.  Link to book below.

When I tell clients that their test results show signs of a parasitic infection, their first reaction is often shock or embarrassment. But the truth is, it’s far more common—and less alarming—than you might think. In many cases, a targeted parasite cleanse can support your gut health and bring relief from lingering digestive issues. 

Let’s take a closer look at what’s really going on, and how to tell if a parasite cleanse might be right for you.

What Is a Parasite?

A parasite is an organism that lives on or inside a host and survives by drawing nutrients from it. While that might sound unsettling, not all parasites are harmful. Some live harmlessly on our skin, feeding on dead skin cells and playing a role in our skin microbiome.

However, certain internal parasites are less helpful. These organisms may interfere with nutrient absorption or disrupt your gut microbiome, leading to unwanted symptoms.

Some of the more well-known examples include:

• Giardia lamblia

• Entamoeba histolytica

• Threadworms

• Tapeworms

• Hookworms

In some cases, such as malaria, parasites can cause severe illness. But more often, they are part of a larger picture involving gut imbalance—and that’s where a carefully designed parasite cleanse can help.

Could a Parasite Cleanse Help You?

Parasitic infections can affect anyone, regardless of their lifestyle or general health. You might pick one up from contaminated food or water, especially after travel. The presence of parasites doesn’t necessarily mean they’re causing your symptoms—but it does signal that your gut environment might need attention.

If you’re worried about your gut health, I’d highly recommend downloading my online course The Ultimate Gut Health Programme to help support your digestive system, 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.

In fact, many people unknowingly live with parasites for years without serious issues. The key is understanding the bigger picture: your overall gut health.

An imbalanced microbiome (also called dysbiosis), a leaky gut, or weakened immunity can create the perfect conditions for parasites to thrive. Sometimes, parasites are the cause of the imbalance. Other times, the imbalance existed first and allowed them to take hold.

What’s Involved in a Parasite Cleanse?

A well-designed parasite cleanse typically focuses on two main goals:

1. Eliminating harmful organisms

2. Restoring a healthy gut environment

Sometimes, herbal antimicrobials are used to target specific organisms. These may include:

• Oregano oil

• Berberine

• Grapefruit seed extract

But please don’t self-prescribe these! They’re powerful substances that can disrupt your beneficial gut bacteria if used incorrectly. Always work with a qualified practitioner to make sure you’re using the right support, in the right way.

Final Thoughts

If you’re experiencing digestive issues that don’t seem to improve with diet alone, it may be worth considering a gut health assessment and, if appropriate, a parasite cleanse.

Parasites often show up as part of a larger pattern of imbalance—and tackling the root cause is more effective than simply trying to eliminate the organism. With the right guidance, you can restore your gut to a healthier state and start feeling more like yourself again.

So, you’ve been doing everything “right” — eating well, taking care of yourself, maybe even cutting back on sugar or gluten — yet you still feel off. Your symptoms are frustrating, maybe even debilitating… but every time you speak to a doctor, you’re told your tests are “normal.”  Sound familiar?  When your body is clearly screaming for help, being told you’re “fine” is incredibly disheartening. And the truth is, if you want real answers — not just guesses — it might be time to look a little deeper. That’s where private lab testing comes in.

Here are four solid reasons why it’s absolutely worth considering:

1. If you think you’ve got a yeast infection, testing is the only reliable way to know

You might have Googled your symptoms, stared at your tongue in the mirror, or even tried the old “spit in a glass of water” trick. These can be interesting experiments — but they’re not diagnostic.

Even online questionnaires, while sometimes helpful for organising your thoughts, can’t confirm what’s really going on in your gut.

If you suspect yeast overgrowth or Candida, proper lab testing (like a stool test or organic acids test) is the only way to know for sure — and to get the right plan in place to treat it.

[👉 Read more about Candida here.]

If you’re worried about your gut health, I’d highly recommend downloading my online course The Ultimate Gut Health Programme to help support your digestive system, 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.

3. Symptoms outside the gut? They could still start in your gut

So many people are shocked to discover their skin issues, fatigue, joint pain, or even mood swings are linked to gut health — often due to something called leaky gut.

Conditions potentially linked to poor gut health include:

• Autoimmune conditions

• IBS and IBD

• Eczema, psoriasis and acne

• Food sensitivities

• Joint pain and arthritis

• Asthma

• Fatigue or brain fog

• Mood or appetite changes

There are specific tests that look at the gut lining, inflammation, immune response and more — all of which help to piece together what’s really driving your symptoms, so private lab testing may be the answer.

So, is private testing worth it?

If you’re struggling with symptoms and not getting answers, testing helps you:

✅ Stop guessing
✅ Pinpoint root causes faster
✅ Get a treatment plan that actually works
✅ Stay motivated — seeing your results in black and white is incredibly empowering

I hope this post gives you a clearer idea of why gut testing is such a valuable step — especially when you feel like you’ve hit a wall.

If you’d like to explore whether private testing might help you, I’d love to chat. You can book a free call with me here — I’ll ask a few questions, find out what you’re dealing with, and point you in the right direction.

You deserve to feel better — let’s find out what’s really going on.

We’ve all seen the rise of gluten-free everything — from cakes to crisps to dog treats. But does you going gluten-free actually make sense? And why is it getting such a bad rap in the first place?

Here’s the lowdown — five essential things you need to know, plus what to do if you suspect gluten isn’t your gut’s best friend.

1. Coeliac vs Gluten Intolerance: Not the Same Thing!

Let’s clear this up first: coeliac disease is not the same as gluten intolerance.

Coeliac disease is an autoimmune condition where gluten attacks your gut, damaging the delicate villi lining your small intestine. It’s serious — no gluten allowed, ever.

Gluten intolerance, on the other hand, doesn’t wreck your villi, but it can still make you feel downright awful. And here’s the kicker: you can be negative for coeliac and still struggle with something called Non-Coeliac Gluten Sensitivity (NCGS).

2. How Gluten Intolerance Shows Up (Hint: It’s Not Just Your Gut)

Think gluten sensitivity is all about tummy troubles? Think again. Watch for signs like:

• Bloating, pain, constipation, diarrhoea, reflux

• Brain fog

• Headaches

• Mood swings, anxiety, depression

• Skin issues (eczema, dermatitis)

• Achy joints + muscles

• Thyroid or hormone issues

Basically, gluten can stir up chaos anywhere in the body.

If you’re worried about your gut health, I’d highly recommend downloading my online course The Ultimate Gut Health Programme to help support your digestive system, 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.

4. It’s Not Just the Gluten — It’s the Bigger Picture

Whether or not gluten causes you grief can depend on:

• How healthy your gut bacteria are

• How much gluten you’re eating (think cereal → sandwich → pasta → biscuits… yikes!)

• Overall diet quality

• Hormone balance

And remember: gluten lurks in sneaky places — sauces, processed foods, even some supplements.

So… Should You Go Gluten-Free?

Here’s the deal: the only way to know if gluten is your problem is to cut it out completely for 2-4 weeks.

👉 If your symptoms improve → bingo, gluten is likely an issue.
👉 If you reintroduce it and feel worse → it’s time to seriously rethink gluten.
👉 If nothing changes → gluten probably isn’t the villain.

Want Help Figuring This Out?

If you’re ready to ditch the guesswork, I’m here to help!

💬 Book your FREE 30-minute chat with me, the link is below  — let’s get to the bottom of what’s going on and map out your next steps.