As you may have read in this post, I found some an interesting TED talk by Mark Hyman; however, I actually came to his research about healing your inner tube prior to finding his talk on the social aspect of managing chronic illnesses. I think that this advice has got to be helpful for anyone, not just spoonies and crohnies.
Sourced from experience life.com
The body’s capacity to withstand autoimmunity is like a barrel’s capacity to hold water, says Nakazawa. The body’s barrel is half filled with factors you can’t control, like your gender and your genes. The other half is filled with things we can control, such as how many chemicals we put in our bodies.
A healthy diet creates a healthy gut. It protects your body from autoimmunity. “When you heal your gut, you automatically lower what’s in the barrel,” Nakazawa says.
Functional-medicine pioneer Mark Hyman, MD, calls the gut the “inner tube of life” and offers seven steps to keep it happy and healthy:
- Eat whole unprocessed foods, like vegetables, beans, nuts, seeds, and whole grains.
- Pinpoint food allergies. For two weeks, cut out gluten, dairy, yeast, corn, soy, eggs, and other highly allergenic foods, and see how you feel.
- Curb infections and bug overgrowth. Parasites, small bowel bacteria, and yeasts can hurt gut function. Find a healthcare practitioner who can help you clear up these underlying problems before they get out of hand.
- Reseed your inner ecosystem with prebiotic and probiotic-rich foods, like plain yogurt, sauerkraut, kimchi, kefir, etc.
- Boost your digestive enzymes. Without enough enzymes, the gut can’t break down food into the nutrients your body needs. Taking a broad-spectrum digestive-enzyme supplement with your food can help.
- Eat good fats. Specifically, studies show omega-3s protect against autoimmunity by reducing inflammation and helping heal a leaky gut.
- Plug any leaks. Gut-healing nutrients, like glutamine and zinc, help repair the gut’s lining so that no more nasties can slip through.