Category Archives: Questions & Answers

Questions & Answers

10 Changes That Can Improve Your Gut Health

Here are the ten habits that I regularly recommend to my clients who need to improve their gut health.

1. Eat according to your own schedule: I recommend not eating based on a diet book’s schedule. It’s not a great idea to blindly follow someone else’s diet for long periods. Some patients I’ve seen have followed a Candida Diet for 30 years. They haven’t eaten fruit in thirty years! You can’t live like that.

If you can’t get your gut fixed up within six to 12 months, there’s something very wrong. You’re either getting the wrong kind of treatment, reading the wrong kind of book, taking the wrong kind of pill, or living the wrong kind of lifestyle. Something’s not right.

2. Drink clean, filtered water. I recommend drinking purified water that doesn’t contain chlorine or fluoride. Studies have shown that chlorine can cause harmful bacteria patterns in the gut. Chlorine can kill beneficial bacteria. By continually drinking water with chlorine in it, you’re going to affect your microbiome. I suggest getting a purifier because a lot of bottled water isn’t as clean as it claims. Drink water instead of alcohol or coffee with sugar in it.

3. Eat foods that contain beneficial fibers: Eat enough fiber but don’t eat too much. How do you know if you’re eating the right kind and amount of fiber? Look at your bowel movement. Also, your gut should be silent – no bloating, no pain, no uncomfortable sensations. Make sure you choose a fiber that suits your gut. Consider starting with vegetable fibers and then slowly introducing fiber from legumes.

4. Exercise regularly: It’s amazing what exercise can do for the gut. You don’t need to be superman or superwoman to have a healthy digestive tract. Walking everyday is enough.

5. Chew properly: Correctly chewing food is essential for achieving excellent gastrointestinal health. If you swallow everything as a dog would, you are going to have a problem moving your bowels.

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6. Manage your stress: Stress affects your gut more than just about anything. If you can manage your stress levels, the difference in your gut health will be profound.

7. Avoid processed foods: A lot of people love processed foods, but those foods don’t increase the diversity of healthy bacteria in your gut. Read labels and be careful about what you eat.

8. Add cultured and fermented foods to your diet very gradually: Many people I see jump right into body ecology kind of diets where they eat lots of different ferments. As your gut health improves, you can add larger servings and various types of fermented foods to your diet.

9. Eat on instinct: Eating on instinct means you will eat more on some days, and some days you’ll eat a little less. Listen to your gut. If the appetite’s not keen, don’t eat food. It’s important to eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but give yourself some margin when it comes to time.

10. Don’t focus too much on supplements: Too many people take ridiculous amounts of supplements, thinking that more is better. They may even believe that supplements have more to offer than food. There is absolutely no comparison with supplements when it comes to food. Food will always be the best medicine.

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Questions & Answers

LabCorp’s Comprehensive Stool Analysis: What You Need To Know

After spending some time looking at the LabCorp website, I can only find scant information on stool testing. I did find parasite stool tests that check for basic parasites. However, based on the site, I can’t see that LabCorp offers anything in the league of Doctor’s Data or Genova diagnostics, who I deal with every day in my clinic.

That being said, I know about LabCorp because many of my US clients have LabCorp tests done, although they have primarily been blood tests.

The testing I have done through Doctor’s Data seems to be far superior to that offered by LabCorp. Doctor’s Data Laboratories offer a very useful stool test panel. In the report provided by Doctor’s Data, the bacteriology culture is found at the top of the page. This section comments on the beneficial gut flora, imbalanced flora, and harmful flora. There is also a yeast culture provided. If you went with LabCorp, you would have to do five or six separate tests to get the same information, and it would cost you a ton of money.

The Doctor’s Data comprehensive stool analysis (CSA) also screens three samples for parasites. It provides a digestion and absorption panel as well as commenting on inflammatory markets like calprotectin. An immune panel is also found in the Doctor’s Data report.

Overall, there is so much information in the Doctor’s Data test that I don’t see in a LabCorp test. We’ve got our short-chain fatty acids for colonic health. We’ve got our intestinal health markers as well.

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If you want to do a pure parasite screen looking for organisms like Salmonella, Yersinia, and Giardia, LabCorp may be sufficient. LabCorp seems oriented towards conventional medical practice compared to a functional testing lab like Doctor’s Data or Genova Diagnostics. The latter two labs are more suitable for naturopaths and traditional doctors who have training in functional medicine. Those two groups of clinicians will be used to comprehensive stool test reports. In contrast, LabCorp tends to provide pared

down information for medical doctors who tend to see GI problems as mostly related to parasites.

Most conventional doctors would never investigate beneficial bacteria in a client, which, to me, is very unfortunate. I’m discovering now that a patient’s beneficial bacteria count can be even more important than looking at yeast or parasites. I’ve come to that conclusion in the last four to five years after conducting a vast number of stool tests. I’m noticing that the balance between beneficial and harmful bacteria is particularly vital to gut health. Not many labs will do a good screen on the beneficial or expected flora. If you really want to get a proper assessment of what is happening in your digestive tract, go to Doctor’s Data or Genova Diagnostic labs.

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Questions & Answers

Gut Biodiversity: What Is The Impact Of An American-Style Diet?

I think it’s important to understand the impact of the “American” or Western diet on gut biodiversity. Research conducted at a Minnesota university found that when immigrants move to the US, the biodiversity of their gut microbiome changed. People living in Europe, South America, Asia, or Africa often have different lifestyles and diets before emigrating to the US. Suddenly, they are having burgers, beer, pizza, artificial sugar, and other junk food. These are foods that weren’t a big part of their life before.

The most significant alterations in gut biodiversity occurred in people who came from less developed countries and relocated to the US. The study found that the most significant shift was in a class of bacteria called Bacteroides. The Bacteroides numbers increased, and the numbers of Prevotella bacteria decreased.

Prevotella predominately belongs to those who are vegetarian, vegan or plant-based fiber eaters. Bacteroides are found more commonly in meat-eaters. More acid-forming diets encourage Bacteroides production.

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An interesting study out of New Zealand found that people with colon cancer have extremely high levels of a particular type of Bacteroides in their colon. That finding doesn’t prove that meat causes bowel cancer, but it certainly points heavily in that direction.

When I first started studying nutrition a long time ago, it became evident that people who have a varied and predominantly plant-based diet, have a much more biodiverse intestinal tract than someone eating an “American” diet. Having a highly diverse collection of gut bacteria gives a person a great advantage. It allows the body to have a whole lot more bacteria producing the enzymes that facilitate digestion and release nutrients to the body. Good gut bacteria likely offer many more benefits that haven’t been discovered yet.

The bottom line is this: if you want to have a healthy digestive system, you really need to focus on plant-based foods and fresh, clean water without chlorine. Unfortunately, water in American is often contaminated with 100s of pharmaceutical drugs. That’s not a drink you want to have.

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Questions & Answers

Five Fermented Foods That Are Good For Your Gut

Fermented and cultured foods are exceptional foods that are well worth incorporating into your diet. My top 5 fermented foods that are good for your gut are:

1. Whey-based drinks: About 400 B.C., a guy called Hippocrates, created a whey-based drink by boiling cow’s milk and adding fig juice and vinegar. He gave this tangy drink to his students and to the people that he was treating. Hippocrates discovered that his drink helped people with their gut and digestive problems.

Molkosan is a product designed in 1952 by famous naturopath Dr. Alfred Vogel. Dr. Vogel brought whey drinks to the attention of the Western world, which is why I see him as a modern-day Hippocrates. Dr. Vogel wrote about this drink in his fantastic book, Nature Doctor.

Whey is a brilliant food that’s very high in lactic acid. Drinks made with whey are a little bit sour.

Molkosan’s can also be used topically to treat psoriasis or eczema. You can use it as a vagina douche and to treat balanitis. Molkosan is one of my favorite foods but whey on its own is also very healthy.

2. Apple Cider Vinegar: One of my favorite types of apple cider vinegar is Bragg’s. Bragg was a remarkable man. I recommend you go to YouTube and watch a video about Bragg. Today, unfortunately, a lot of people get confused and think that industrial, commercial white vinegar has something to offer, but it’s junk. Stick with Braggs.

Apple cider vinegar alkalinizes and cleanses the system. It has a tremendous effect on building good bacteria, and it reduces the incidence of parasites in the body. Apple cider vinegar is one of the best foods you can use to optimize the health of your gut. It’s especially useful during a Candida cleanse program.

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3. Fermented Soy Foods: I wrote a lot about these foods in my book, Candida Crusher. You can read more about fermented soy foods on the website, yeastinfection.org. Don’t believe the nonsense about soy being toxic. Soy is an excellent product if it is non-GMO.

I recommend tempeh in particular. Tempeh has been inoculated with a beneficial bacterium, Bacillus, so it benefits the large and small bowels.

4. Sauerkraut: Sauerkraut is an exceptionally good food to eat if it’s made properly. It also needs to be incorporated into your diet slowly. People with strong histamine responses may have side effects from eating sauerkraut, but otherwise, you should be fine.

5. Yogurt: Yogurt can be a difficult food for people with dairy allergies. However, other people find this food beneficial for building gut health.

I have purposely left kefir off my “top five fermented foods” list because it causes side effects for too many people starting their Candida healing journey. It’s also possible to develop Candida from kefir if the kefir hasn’t been made correctly.

Some people do experience significant improvements in their health from kefir. However, I recommend only adding it to your diet after eating other fermented foods with some success.

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Questions & Answers

Following A Diet: The Good And The Bad

There are literally thousands of diets out there. You may have bought a book, you know, the X, Y, or Z diet. It could even be my diet, the Candida Crusher.

There are definitely advantages of following a diet, including that it provides structure. A strict diet will tell you what you need to do, how you need to do it, and what you need to buy when you go shopping, and what recipes to make.

I’ve been asked by many people for a carefully constructed diet plan. I suggest going to a dietician if you want that kind of guidance. Although, for most people, it’s probably something they will follow for a few weeks, and then they’ll be back to their normal routine. It’s quite rare for someone to follow instructions like that, down to the letter.

Despite the advantages, in my opinion, the cons outweigh the pros for most diets. Most people gravitate back towards their own preferences and eating style. We all like certain types of food, and we’re drawn back to those foods. I believe this is because the bacteria in our gut shape how we think and feel. We don’t think for ourselves. The bacteria think for us.

You might find that a strange concept, but if you go and live in another country for six or twelve months, you will change the way you eat. Your tastes will change. Your desires will change. These changes occur because your gut bacteria changes. The soil in your new country is different. The air, the water, everything about the country, is going to shape your gut. Even the stress of your job and your relationships will shape your gut. In my opinion, your diet will be driven by your bacteria.

In turn, your bacteria are driven, to a degree, by what you eat. If you always strive to eat healthy, organic food, it is going to confer incredible benefits in the gut. Your gut will then influence your diet – not some book or piece of paper. It’s true what they’ve said since the 1950s – every time you put something in your mouth to eat, you’re building up your health, or you’re breaking it down. That’s a critical point to think about. Not what book you should follow, or which diet you should follow.

What someone else writes about food might not apply to you. What’s important to you is what relates to your gut, and how that food makes you feel. Whether it’s a protein, fat, or carb, there are helpful guidelines when it comes to eating. We all know that we shouldn’t eat too much meat. But, ultimately, it’s your life, and it’s your call.

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