In Part 2 we talked about getting rid of the bad and putting in the good.

What’s bad and what’s good?

The first item on the bad list is FOOD.

Gluten and dairy top the list with grains following close behind.  These are the things I always start with.

The second is LEAKY GUT.

Some of the biggest triggers for leaky gut are gluten, stress and poor diet which cause the overgrowth of bad bugs which creates inflammation.

You can also add antibiotics, anti-inflammatory drugs, steroids, birth control pills and drugs in general because they all cause changes in the gut flow leading to a leaky gut.

And we can add environmental chemicals and toxic metals to this naughty list.  It’s very important to understand that if we fix our gut, we have a powerful capacity to function better.

Next are infections like Lyme disease, viruses and the like.  Mold and stress can be included here as well.

If we can eliminate the above mentioned items, we really can heal a lot of autoimmunity.

Now for the good stuff….by giving people the right nutrients like healthy gut flora (probiotics), fish oil, vitamins C, A and D, zinc plus any number of herbs that I use like milk thistle and curcumin, this makes for a potent healing force!

By taking a good history and running tests, I can begin to work out what the main culprit is and where it’s coming from.  These tools help lead me to the source of the problem at which point we can get rid of it by starting a treatment program that kickstarts the body’s capacity to get rid of it and start healing.

By the way, what exactly is a good history?  It’s looking at the person’s overall health, problems/symptoms they’re having in addition to potentially looking at other factors like genetics, what was your mother’s pregnancy with you like, we’re you born by C-section, were you breast fed, were you given antibiotics, steroids, what did you eat when you were little, and things of that nature.

A bit more on gluten, grains and gut flora…..

I have seen, more and more, people having cross-reactions to different grains.  Two factors are involved here:  one is having cross-reactions to non-gluten grains such as corn and the second is the nature of gut flora which is affected by what you’re eating.

Many people have bacterial and yeast overgrowth, so if you eat a lot of grains and starch, you are basically feeding the bad bugs, they ferment and the result are imbalances that lead to leaky gut.

For me, the best way to treat people is to reset or reboot your system by taking everything out that could be a problem then add things back in observing reactions and the results.

Make a promise to yourself starting today:

Stop feeling lousy…rotten…awful…crummy…miserable…terrible…crappy.

Find a good Functional Medicine doctor to help you get to the root cause of your health problems.

Like I always say:

Find the cause.

Fix the cause.

Feel normal again!

Dr. Carri Drzyzga, DC, ND – The Functional Medicine Doc

Find the Cause. Fix the Cause. Feel Normal Again!