Category Archives: Questions & Answers

Questions & Answers

Alcohol And Your Gut: What You Need To Know

Will alcohol affect your gut health?

Yes. Alcohol will affect your gut in several ways.

If you’ve been struggling with a health problem for some time and you drink alcohol regularly, it’s time to put that drink aside.

If you have been going to different doctors trying to find out what’s wrong with you and still no answers, then giving up alcohol is an important step. This is particularly true if you have histamine issues, allergies, or recurring digestive issues.

I don’t care how much or what kind of alcohol you drink. Whether it’s glass or a bottle or it’s red wine or gin, regular drinking is going to impact your gut health.

Alcohol impacts the four basic groups of bacteria that live in your gut. The bacteria populations are altered and moved around.

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You’ll only truly know to what extent your gut has been affected by alcohol by giving it up for at least six months. That may seem like a crazy thing to do if you drink regularly, but the difference between drinking and not drinking is profound when it comes to gut health.

Some people claim that red wine is better for your gut due to the polyphenol content. And red wine can indeed increase the amount of certain beneficial bacteria. But that benefit is offset by the impact of alcohol on the gut and liver.

Alcohol slows metabolism down. It affects hormonal health and increases the activity of inflammatory pathways.

Denial about the impact of alcohol on your gut won’t help anybody.
I recommend giving up alcohol for a significant amount of time and observing what happens to your digestive health.

A healthy gut microbiome will improve the physical and mental aspects of your health.
In my experience, bowel movements nearly always improve when people give up alcohol. In most cases, health improves across the board when alcohol is eliminated from the diet.

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Questions & Answers

Your Gut And Exercise: What You Need To Know

Exercise can impact your gut and digestive health in several different ways.

One study I read compared the bowel flora between people who were exercising and those who were not. Over the six week study, exercisers dramatically increased the amount of short-chain fatty acids in their bowel. Increased SCFA is associated with lower rates of inflammatory diseases like heart disease, cancer, and metabolic syndrome.

The researchers also found that after the six weeks when people stopped exercising, the short-chain fatty acid population slowly dropped and went back to the pre-exercise baseline. In other words, the impact of exercise may only endure for as long as the exercise. Nevertheless, this study certainly provides another reason for incorporating regular physical activity into your life.

Further readings:

The mechanism for the positive effect of exercise on gut flora hasn’t yet been determined. But, I can tell you from my clinical experience that people who exercise a lot tend to rarely get constipated. They also don’t get gas or bloating that much as people who sit around all day watching Netflix or TV.

Active people have better digestion, better appetite control, and better bowel movements. They also tend to eat more reliably and regularly on time. I’ve also noticed that my physically active clients don’t have the same rate of fatigue and sleeping issues as sedentary people.
I believe that exercise has a massive influence on overall health and well-being, not just on the bowel flora.

Exercise improves blood, stool, and other medical test results. The tests also improve with more exercise.

Whether it’s being active around the house or going to the gym or walking or cycling regularly, the benefits of physical activity are clear.

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Questions & Answers

8 Ways To Make Your Meals Gut-Friendly

There are several steps you can take to make sure the meals you are cooking are gut-friendly.

1. Always use fresh food: There’s no substitute for fresh food. Fresh food, not canned and processed food, gives you the best possible outcome.

It’s great if you can grow your own vegetables but, if you can’t, try getting them from a farmers’ market. The fresher the better, and the more nutritious and tasty.

2. Eat alliums every day: Alliums include garlic, onions, chives, and shallots. Alliums are a fantastic food for the gut. This group of plants contains fibers that help build up the level of beneficial bacteria in the gut. Alliums also help keep the blood thin and clean.

I think ginger and garlic go very well together. And ginger is also very good for your gut.

3. Each brassicas every day: This group of vegetables includes cauliflower, broccoli, kale, bok choy, and Brussel sprouts. Brassicas are extremely nutrient-densee and cancer-prevening.

Brassicas are superb steamed or added to stir-fries.

4. Use sharp knives: Don’t use cheap, junky, crappy knives. Using sharp, Japanese knives makes it a real joy to cut things for your meals.

Along with good knives, I use good stainless steel or cast iron pans. I don’t use aluminum.

Further readings:

5. Cook at home rather than eating out: When you cook your own meals, you know exactly what goes into each dish. When you eat out, there could be MSG or other chemicals that you don’t’ need in your food.

If you do eat out, pick something fresh and healthy like Japanese food.

6. Include some cultured or fermented food into your diet on a daily basis: Even if it’s only a small amount of yogurt or sauerkraut, it’s still good idea.

Cultured and fermented foods will complement the allium and brassica vegetables in your diet. All of these foods are good gut-building choices.

7. Eat fresh fruit every day: I eat a lot of berries, avocados, sour apples, and other healthy fruits. I usually eat three to four pieces of fresh fruit every day.

8. Use cooking methods that preserve the nutrients in your food: Steaming and stir-frying are good options.

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Questions & Answers

Gut Flora And Artificial Sweeteners: What You Need To Know

Is it a good idea to drink diet drinks? Is it okay for the beneficial bacteria in your gut?

Scientists that exposed gut bacteria to six major classes of artificial sugars found that it had an adverse effect on the flora. The gut bacteria quickly began to produce toxins in response to being exposed to artificial sugars.

Artificial sugars have now been linked to so many different types of diseases, like reducing your risk of getting pregnant and an increased risk of stroke.

Further readings:

Artificial sweeteners have also been linked to diabetes, obesity, and dementia. More recently, the link has been made to a disruption of the bowel flora.

To my mind, it is clear that artificial sweeteners are not something you want to have in your body.

People who drink diet pop should be very careful. They could be altering their gut bacteria for the worse.

Artificial sugars aren’t just in diet drinks. They are found in well over half of the foods found in supermarkets in America. It’s entirely possible that you are unknowingly eating these sugars and affecting your bowel flora.

Make sure you read the package of everything you buy to see if it contains any artificial sugar. If it does, put it back. You don’t want to be eating that kind of stuff.

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Questions & Answers

Why Antibiotics Are Not The Answer For SIBO

You’ll likely never get rid of SIBO by relying on antibiotics, whether it’s amoxicillin, or rifaximin, or Xifaxin.

There are a lot of naturopaths in the US that prescribe rifaximin.

I’ve seen hundreds upon hundreds of cloents that have taken rifaximin with minimal results. They may initially have seen some improvement but then they relapsed and had to go back on rifaximin.

Rifaximin doesn’t get absorbed well in the gut. Essentially, it acts in the gut and then gets excreted. That’s why it isn’t good for anything except a small bowel problem. It generally doesn’t have much of an impact on the large bowel.

In my opinion, relying on antibiotics for SIBO is a complete waste of time in nost cases. It means you’re taking your eye off the ball and thinking that a drug is going to cure all your GI problems. Well, that isn’t going to happen in most cases.

Relying on an antibiotic to fix SIBO means you’re not looking at other options.

Ask yourself, “Did I look at all my herbal options before I started taking antibiotics?”

Herbal options tend to be more broad-spectrum. Unlike rifaximin they can also have an impact on small intestinal fungal overgrowth (SIFO).

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Most of the clients I have seen have got multiple gut imbalances. They have some fungal issues and many also have parasites. Many have low pancreatic enzyme levels, low secretory IgA, and poor immune function.

An antibiotic that works on SIBO is not going to address all the other gut issues.

My suggestion is to get a comprehensive stool analysis based on three stool samples. A SIBO breath test is not enough. The stool analysis will give you an overall idea of your gut problems. It will also provide a susceptibility panel that is specific to your situation.

Another reason I don’t think rifaximin is the answer to your SIBO problem is that probiotics aren’t considered thoroughly. In some cases, probiotics have a better effect than antibiotics.

If you have low to nil counts of lactobacillus and bifidobacteria along with SIBO, probiotics are far more important than antibioitics.

Managing SIBO is not just about killing harmful bacteria. It’s also about building up the beneficial bacteria in your gut.

Thirdly, the possibility of a poor migrating motor complex (MMC) is often missed if antibiotics are considered the “answer” to SIBO.

The MMC is responsible for cleaning up the small bowel between meals.
The vagus nerve, part of the parasympathetic nervous system, and a variety of hormones are involved in regulating the activity of the MMC.

If you’ve got sympathetic dominance through stress, you’re going to have parasympathetic depression and weak vagal tone. The result is poor MMC activity followed by bloating, gas, and other digestive problems.

Antibiotics do nothing to address poor vagal tone. You need to address the issues that are causing your stress.

In my opinion, when it comes to GI health, lifestyle trumps just about anything else in life, including your diet.

Antibiotics also don’t address any structural problems that may be contributing to GI dysfunction.

I had one patient, a police officer, who was told he had a mast cell disease affecting his gut. Turned out that his holster, weighing umpteen pounds, had impacted his 11th and 12th thoracic vertebrae and the nerve supply to his small bowel. When the chiropractor addressed his vertebrae problems, his GI issues resolved.

Think about your occupation; think about your life. Don’t think that an antibiotic is going to cure SIBO. It’s not in most cases. You need to look further afield.

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