Are You Destroying Your Digestive System?
I was in my early 20’s and I was a personal trainer, an athlete growing up and I was extremely active and fit. However, on the inside, I was struggling.
I would have periods of tremendous intestinal cramping that would leave me lying on the ground squirming in pain. I struggled with constant bouts of diarrhea and constipation that were unpredictable. But I thought this was normal and no big deal. Especially, since I was living a much healthier lifestyle than just about anyone I knew.
I was a lacto-ovo vegetarian and never ate what I considered “junk food” like candy, fast food and pastries. I exercised daily and look great on the outside so I thought I was doing everything right…but I really had no knowledge of how to truly care for my body.
By ignoring the problems, I was allowing them to get worse and worse and eventually spiral out of control. That is when they completely disrupted my life.
My System Was So OverWhelmed:
By the time I got into graduate school, my digestive system had been overwhelmed. I dropped 30 lbs in a 6 month period of time (from 165 lbs to 135 lbs) and I looked extremely thin. My parents and colleagues were concerned. My blood pressure was extremely low and I would get dizzy every time I stood up too quickly.
I finally realized that I had leaky gut and irritable bowel syndrome and needed a drastic change. So I went about removing all the possible toxins from my diet and lifestyle and in a year I had gained the muscle weight back and felt significantly better.
This is when I realized that the health of the digestive system is foundational to overall health and my system struggled from years of poor choices.
Here Were Some of the Issues:
Drinking Water: I was drinking tons of water (which we all know is healthy) at least a gallon a day, but unfortunately the water was not filtered very well and contained chlorine and fluoride which both have a detrimental effect on our gut microbiome and intestinal lining.
Artificial Sweeteners: I knew better than to eat a bunch of sugar but at the time, I didn’t realize how bad Splenda was. I never purchased Splenda directly but I used processed protein bars and whey proteins that contained this dangerous ingredient.
Pasteurized Dairy: I would consume a lot of skim or low-fat milk, yogurts and cottage cheese. Unfortunately, a lot of the time this was not organic and so I had tons of hormones and anti-biotics in them and the high heat pasteurization process creates dangerous chemicals that inflame the body. This was also from grain-fed cows – grain-fed means high omega 6 fats and very inflammatory.
Farm Caught Fish: I would have salmon all the time, but it was always a farm-caught variety I would purchase because I didn’t know the difference between farmed and wild caught. Farmed fish is fed GMO grains that are laced with pesticides and herbicides that damage the gut lining.
Gluten and Grains: I would eat oatmeal or Quaker oatmeal squares every morning. I would whole wheat breads and pastas and lots of brown rice. I thought this was super healthy but grains in general are inflammatory and the lectin components can be extremely hazardous to gut health and overall nutritional status of the body.
Processed Proteins: I was a huge fan of processed protein bars, protein shakes, getting shakes at smoothie places, etc. I remember that I would even drink Ensure – because I liked that it had protein and vitamins/minerals in it. Unfortunately, these products were all synthetically created and had tons of dangerous additives, preservatives, artificial flavorings, etc. All of these add to our toxic load and inflame the body and damage the gut lining and natural microflora.
NSAIDs: I had headaches all through my childhood and would frequently take Ibuprofen or other non-steroidal, anti-inflammatory drugs. When I played high school sports, I took more to control pain and help with injuries. Unfortunetly, NSAIDs have a detrimental effect on the digestive system and place a lot of stress on the liver and kidneys while wearing down the intestinal lining.
The Digestive Dysfunction Epidemic:
I could go on and on about all the things well intentioned people are doing every day that damage and inflame their body. I should know, because I was one of them for so many years.
Did you know that research indicates that 61% of the Unites States population alone is dealing with at least one symptom of digestive dysfunction?
You name it — gas, bloating, heartburn, abdominal pain, candida, constipation, diarrhea — the statistics say that YOU are more than likely experiencing one or more of them, right now at this very moment.
Living with digestive system problems has become the new normal. Typically, they begin as minor complaints — a little indigestion here and there, the occasional tummy ache or bout of heartburn.
If You Don’t Correct the Cause:
Sooner or later, what was once a minor annoyance becomes something that can literally take over your life. This usually happens for two reasons — embarrassment and ignorance.
Let’s be honest, no one goes out of their way to talk about their digestive system problems. What happens on the other side of the bathroom door has become the most taboo of topics, a private matter requiring the utmost discretion.
Unfortunately, there is no “bathroom therapist” office to sit in safety and speak freely about your bowel issues. Instead, you keep it to yourself and hope it will all go away with time.
Most Doctors Don’t Really Understand It:
And that’s when you find yourself in the doctor’s office, finally revealing every detail of what you’ve been going through for months, maybe years.
At some point during this cathartic act of courage you realize that you’ve used up all 12 minutes of your allotted appointment time and suddenly find yourself in the pharmacy with a prescription for a drug that comes with two pages of side effects.
No exam. No testing. No investigation whatsoever into what may be causing your symptoms.
Just ignorance in the form of a pill.
What Now?
THAT is the very question hundreds of millions of people worldwide are asking about their digestive problems. The truth is that “modern day” medicine has fallen as much as 17 years behind the latest research. In other words, almost two decades will pass before your doctor recommends what actually works. Chances are, your doc is unaware of the growing number of research studies demonstrating these alarming findings:
– The toxicity of persistent constipation may cause common, everyday symptoms like fatigue, attention deficit, and brain fog.
– Autoimmune conditions like Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, rheumatoid arthritis, and multiple sclerosis are almost always rooted in digestive dysfunction.
– The inflammation from gut dysfunction can spread throughout the body, causing inflammation in the brain, joints, and other important organs.
By the way, inflammation in the gut may also shut down your body’s ability to burn fat. Not good. Most doctors are either unaware of this information or don’t care to know. Meanwhile, people like you are paying the price in unnecessary suffering and medical bills.
