Did you know that 75% of your immune system is in your gut? This means that an unhealthy gut leads to dysfunction somewhere elsewhere in your body. You may have already experienced digestive symptoms and discomfort resulting from this dysfunction. When this happens you may run to the pharmacy, your medical doctor, or a nutrition store and describe your symptoms. At all of these places, someone will recommend a product or medication and send you home. After this you may or may not feel better, and if you do, it is usually only for a short period of time. Soon enough, you will go back and try once again. Does this sound familiar? If so, it is time to get to the cause of your discomfort and stop placing a “bandage” on it.

An estimated 100 million people suffer from digestive issues, so if you are suffering, you certainly are not alone. The most common problems are reflux, diarrhea, constipation, bloating, peptic ulcers, irritable bowel syndrome, and allergies/intolerance/sensitivities to food. The main purpose of the digestive system is to extract nutrients from food, process nutrients small enough to be absorbed, and to eliminate waste products. It is also responsible for protecting your body from invaders such as microbes, toxins, and allergens that you might have encountered.

If your digestive system is out of balance, it may result in serious consequences throughout your entire body causing problems such as anxiety, acne, autoimmune diseases, dementia, food allergies, autism, and chronic fatigue.

If your system is bombarded with antibiotics, a low fiber-high sugar diet, anti-inflammatory drugs, stress, or undetected food allergies, eventually the lining of your gut will break down. This then leads to bacteria, toxins, undigested fat and protein, as well as metabolic waste products being leaked into your blood stream. Ultimately, these things circulating in your body can trigger an autoimmune reaction (your body’s immune system attacking the rest of your body) because it does not recognize these particles and “tags” them as invaders.

It is possible to have gut dysfunction but not have any symptoms associated with it. When our immune system is compromised (has been worn out over time), it can’t express what is going on the body. However, if you consistently feel under the weather while having normal blood lab values, or just can’t lose weight, you may very well have underlying gut dysfunction. The biggest mistake made today is that gut function is rarely evaluated properly by health care providers.

The gut is a powerhouse that aids in health and well-being. It is a necessity to have healthy gut function to experience true health.

Here are the steps that need to be taken to ensure you are on the right path.

• Eliminate all potential food allergens
• Reduce inflammation
• Replenish you gut with healthy bacteria

Masking the discomfort will only temporarily relieve the symptoms. You need to take the steps necessary to remove all foreign particles, reduce inflammation, decrease risk of disease, increase healthy bacteria, and find hidden food allergies. This is absolutely the best way to get on the path to living your life the way you were meant to live it!