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episode #219

Q & A: Supporting a Healthy Gut, Endotoxins and Leaky Gut Syndrome

January 23, 2023 in Podcast

Intro

This week I answer some of your questions regarding gut health and discuss ways to optimize your gut! Some of the questions I answer in this episode are:

  • Why Should You Focus on Gut Health?
  • What should I be eating to support a healthy gut?
  • How will alcohol affect my gut?
  • How does my gut react to caffeine?
and much more!



Brian (1s):

Hello, and welcome to the Get Lean and Eat Clean podcast. My name is Brian grn. I'm a certified health coach, trainer and author, and this podcast is for middle-aged men and women looking to optimize their health and get their bodies back to what it once was 10 to 15 years ago. I will give you simple, actionable items to get long-term sustainable results. Thanks for listening and enjoy the show. All right, welcome to the Get Lean e Clean podcast. My name is Brian Grn. I hope you had a great weekend, and hopefully you'll listen to my interview episode two 18 with Brad Kearns.

Brian (43s):

This is the third time I've had Brad on and he's a mentor of mine, someone that definitely helped me out when I first started my podcast. And we touched on all about restrictive dieting, how to lose that spare tire, and some great healthy habits that you can bring into the next year. So really enjoy, always enjoy my conversations with Brad. Definitely check that one out. Today, I wanna touch on sort of based off my last conversation around sleep. We're gonna get into gut health. These are some questions that came up from some clients from the internet. So if, if there's something is there, if there's a question that I've missed, you can email me, brian brian gr.com, and maybe I'll add that to one of my micro podcasts regarding gut health.

Brian (1m 30s):

We hear it all the time. I just did a great podcast interview with Colin Stucker, so check that one out. That was done, gosh, just a couple weeks ago, and we talked all about some good steps to take to support a healthy gut. And I'm gonna touch on some of that today, but also get into some other questions that came up regarding gut health. I mean, one of the, the main questions is, is why should you focus on gut health? I mean, first and foremost, you've heard about this gut-brain access, and you know, the gut and the brain are tied together. One of the reasons they're tied together is a serotonin that's produced is 90% coming from the gut. So serotonin is known for regulating mood, appetite, and sleep.

Brian (2m 13s):

So pretty important gut microbiota can levels, can affect chemicals, neurotransmitters in your brain and certain types of microbes in the gut can directly stimulate the production and release of serotonin and in the cells in the lining of the colon. So 90% of your serotonin production is coming from the gut. So pretty important. That's just one, one reason to pay attention to gut health. Another reason is just, you know, reducing inflammation in the body. And if you're better able to digest foods and absorb nutrients, you're gonna get better energy throughout the day.

Brian (2m 57s):

So a lot of times if people are sluggish, it might have to do with gut health. Also too, you know, what, what should you be doing to get a healthy gut? We talked about this with Colin. One of them is pay attention to keeping the acid in your stomach higher rather than lower, low, low stomach acid, which he talked about can be common. And essentially, you know, with all these alkaline drinks such as these alkaline waters, perhaps maybe you shouldn't be drinking those every day and eating healthy animal proteins, which will help promote healthy acid in your gut. So what else could you do? You know, probiotics is a big topic.

Brian (3m 40s):

I am, I am a, I am a fan. I've become a fan of them. You know, they're not all created equal. I actually did an interview with the c e O of bio optimizers, Wade Lightheart, and we talked all about his gut health line. So just make sure you do your research regarding that. But I think first and foremost, before you even looking at any type of probiotic is just eating unprocessed foods and probiotic rich foods like yogurt, fermented vegetables, just fresh fruits and vegetables. You know, if ve if you're sensitive to the vegetables, then maybe stay away. But exercising regularly can also help exercising regularly, getting enough sleep, have also shown beneficial, have shown benefits to gut health, and also can improve your immune system as well.

Brian (4m 30s):

So you gotta make sure that you're not eating these foods that are triggering inflammation in your gut. And this could be glutens. I'm gonna talk a little bit about something called endotoxins, and we'll get into that in a little bit. But anyways, I would say first and foremost, eating foods that are rich in probiotics, prebiotics, and something called ascetic acid, which can help cons support a healthy gut. Now, some of the foods that contain ascetic acid, apple cider vinegar, Colin mentioned that in our talks, sometimes he'll blend a little bit of water with apple cider vinegar, and that'll help get things moving, certain pickles, even even kimchi.

Brian (5m 10s):

So these are, these are foods that have, that are rich in probiotics, prebiotics, and ascetic acid. Additionally, you know, unsaturated fats that are found in nuts and avocado and olive can provide fatty acids and fiber rich vegetables as well. Can pro com help promote regularity? I will say if they're implementing some, some fruit throughout my day, it does help me go to the bathroom more and healthy, healthy poops, mind you. So if you're not, if you're not having regular bowel movements, perhaps you maybe should implement some healthy fruits or even some vegetables.

Brian (5m 54s):

Let's look at some other questions I talked about exercise. Exercise can definitely have an impact on gut health. It can promote good digestion, increased production of healthy bacteria, reduce inflammation, and alleviate gastrointestinal problems like constipation. So exercise can help get things moving as well. Can alcohol affect my gut? This was a question. Alcohol seems to be the topic in every question. Alcohol can, it can impact the gut, it can cause inflammation in the stomach lining, and that could lead to disturbances in the microbiome and increased permeability of the gut wall. So that's known as leaky gut.

Brian (6m 36s):

Now, it might not be the only reason why individuals get leaky gut. It's not, but it could lead to this. Inflammation also in alcohol also could decrease the absorption of specific vitamins and minerals that are good for, vital for, excuse me, for intestinal health. So, you know, again, you can enjoy drink from time to time, but I wouldn't be be making it at a daily occurrence. What about caffeine? Caffeine can help people go regular, you know, coffee can, as long as you're drinking a quality coffee bean that, I think there's nothing wrong with that. So caffeine is naturally occurring.

Brian (7m 17s):

Stimulant obviously found in coffee beans in other plants, tea leaves, cocoa beans. There was a study conducted by Harvard Health that indicated that high doses of caffeine may irritate the lining of the stomach and could worsen systems. So this could be when you're in high doses, and I think high doses of any type of stimulate could cause some issues such as caffeine. But I think we all know sort of our, our where to draw the line. Hopefully you do, and you're not overdoing it with caffeinated beverages. What is leaky gut, which we, I talked touched a little bit on this already. Leaky gut syndrome, also known as increased intestinal permeability is the condition in which substances like bacteria and toxins are able to pass through the walls of the intestines.

Brian (8m 3s):

Doesn't sound so good. This could lead to inflammation. Other health related issues such as food allergies, gluten intolerance, digestive issues, skin problems, and autoimmune disease. So leaky gut is now seems like it's becoming more prevalent and I think it just has to do with these nutrient deficiencies that we're having from eating processed foods with additives, excessive stress and increase in alcohol and sugar consumption. So I would say the best way to prevent and treat leaky gut is to eat a balanced diet. That that's unprocessed and nutrient dense Whole foods.

Brian (8m 44s):

I've ha done some podcasts and some great nutrient dense foods. I've done 'em, we, I've talked about it with Brad Kerns. And so check those out. So reduce stress, minimize processed foods and, and try to emphasize nutrient dense foods. Last couple questions here. This one's on endotoxins. And I've had Jay Feldman on. He talks a lot about how endotoxins are one of, like the top leaders could be the one of the top leaders in, in producing many issues with within our cells, within our energy production and endotoxins, also known as lipos saccharides, our toxins associated with bacteria that can lead to negative effects.

Brian (9m 28s):

So l p s also known as lipo lipopolysaccharides, can enter the body and trigger responses such as inflammation. And so common signs and symptoms, fever, abdominal pain, diarrhea. So LPs could be linked to some serious illnesses such as cardiovascular disease and even sepsis. So it's definitely something that is, you want to keep an eye on if, if you feel like you're, you're having these gut issues. Now, how do you reduce endotoxins in the body? Well, I could probably do a whole podcast reducing endotoxins a lot. There's, there could be a few different methods you could try.

Brian (10m 10s):

One is removing gluten. That could provide some relief. Also, another option is to remove lectins and saponins from your diet. Many lectins and saponins are resistance to digestion and we cannot break them down. And so sometimes this could, if we can't break 'em down, they consume access within our gut and they'll, they'll create sort of a blocking. So like once they reach the gut, they bind to the lining of intestinal wall and block nutrient absorption, change the gut flora and can break the intestinal wall. So one is removing gluten, two is removing lectins and saponins three potentially nightshade vegetables could be an issue.

Brian (10m 54s):

Beans, peanuts, pseudo grains. But what can you do? I mean, regular exercise definitely can help eliminating what I just mentioned above can definitely help. And then just, you know, reducing stress, avoiding heavy drinking, removing seed oils from your diet. Canola, sun file oil. Oil seed oils seem to be in every packaged good you could buy. And even the things that they make at Whole Foods have seed oils in them. So these are ways that you can manage levels of endotoxin, but it's definitely could be a serious issue. And you definitely wanna consult your health professional if you do feel like you have some buildup and endotoxins in your body.

Brian (11m 34s):

So those are some questions regarding gut health. You know, first and foremost, exercise, reduce stress, avoid processed foods. Those are great steps. And then if you want to add in some probiotics, even through, through, you know, something like Bio optimizers makes a great one. In my interview with Wade Lightheart, we talk about that. But first and foremost, I would focus on the healthy foods and and see how that works. You know, if you have any other questions regarding gut health, let me know and hope you have a great rest of the week. And I will talk Dan Friday with another great interview.

Brian (12m 14s):

Thanks for listening to the Get Lean ean podcast. I understand there are millions of other podcasts out there and you've chosen to listen to mine and I appreciate that. Check out the show notes@briangr.com for everything that was mentioned in this episode. Feel free to subscribe to the podcast and share it with a friend or family member that's looking to get their body back to what it once was. Thanks again and have a great day.

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