Today I’m going to show you how a 32-year female, used Detoxification techniques as the first step to heal leaky gut.
Garet got married recently, works in an IT Firm.
Her day begins at 7 AM.
She typically starts her day with a workout in the Gym for an hour.
She follows it with a light breakfast.
Once she reaches office, she would have a pretty big cup of coffee with milk.
She would mostly consume red meat, pizzas, pastries, carbonated beverages during her lunch time.
Dinner would be her heavy meal.
In between meals she would consume snacks and other stuff available in the office cafeteria.
Weekends she would consume alcohol as well.
Garet starts experiencing these symptoms
Everything was going good until one day, she experiences Indigestion and Constipation.
Garet, thought these symptoms were temporary and ignored these symptoms for a month.
But symptoms grew day by day – feeling lethargic; could not focus on anything; lost focus on her work, her gym.
It had been 3 months with these symptoms before Garet began to seek help.
She consults a holistic practitioner, James. This is how the conversation goes.
James: Hey Garet, how can I help?
Garet explains her daily routine, what she was consuming and how she was feeling.
James: Looks like toxins have caused a leaky gut.
Garet: Toxins? Leaky gut?
James: Yes. Let me explain.
Whatever you take into your body in form of food, air and water, your body utilizes whatever it needs and eliminates whatever it does not need in the form of waste.
This waste cannot be utilized by the body and must be eliminated from the body.
If it is not regularly eliminated, it becomes highly problematic.
And toxic waste is the number one cause of any “dis-ease” in the body.
Toxic build up process
Garet: How bad is toxic waste?
James: Before I get to that, let me tell you how toxic waste builds and spreads in the body.
Initially, when food you take is digested, the waste is produced in the digestive tract.
It is easy to remove this waste from the digestive tract. But, if it is not eliminated from the digestive tract, it spreads across the body in different forms.
It clogs channels of the body and disrupts tissue nutrition.
It can disrupt healthy activities at the cellular level as well.
This is how toxic waste can affect you.
Garet: And cause symptoms like the ones I have been experiencing?
James: Exactly. There could be even more dangerous symptoms as well.
Garet: So, what can I do to get rid of toxins from my body and heal leaky gut?
James: Before we move onto that let me explain the causes.
I will start with a Quote
“You are what you eat, when you eat and how you eat. Most importantly you are what you digest!”
Causes of toxin build up and blockers to heal leaky gut
Irregular Eating Schedule
- This is very important because our internal systems like the digestive systems have their own schedule, meaning the digestive system is very active during certain times in the day.
- We need to leverage that strength and timing of our digestive system.
- Digestive strength is good during the morning hours.
- So, we need to have a good and healthy breakfast.
- Digestive strength is maximum during the afternoon hours (especially between 12 PM to 3 PM).
- So, we should be having our largest meal of the day during the afternoon.
- Digestive strength gradually reduces post 3 PM and is very weak during late evenings and especially during night.
- So, we should ideally have very light meals or soups post evening and avoid heavy meals during the night.
- If you observe carefully regarding the schedule that I have explained, you can find an interesting fact.
- Our Digestive strength is in tune with the strength of the Sun.
- Sun is strongest in the afternoon and so is our digestive strength; it is weaker during evenings and so is our digestive strength; it is nil during nights and so is our digestive strength.
Overeating or eating when previous food is undigested
- You should eat only when your previous food is digested.
- Do not blindly follow the clock if you are not feeling hungry or if your previous food is not digested.
- This will weaken the digestive strength of the body.
- Match your intake based on your hunger and your digestive strength and the time of the day.
Lot of Cold fluids during the day, especially while you are eating.
- In Ayurveda, they associate the digestive juices or acids to Fire.
- The digestive fire must be strong for digestion of your food.
- According to nature, water destroys fire. There is no argument about that. Isn’t it?
- So, it is recommended to eat freshly cooked, warm food to keep the digestive fire strong.
- It is also recommended not to drink cold fluids or water while having food because it will weaken the digestive fire.
- If Digestive fire or strength is weakened, then the food that you eat may not be digested as it should.
- So, try to avoid drinking cold water, cold drinks, or anything which is cold.
- Practice to drink warm water after an hour.
Not having your largest meal during lunch.
- As described earlier, the digestive fire or strength is maximum during the afternoon.
- Practice eating your largest meal of the day during this time.
- It is also recommended through Chrono Biology, which is an evolving branch of science, that explores the internal clock, signals and collaboration of various internal systems of our body
Lack of sleep and exercise
- There is no need for an explanation here, I guess.
- Sleep is very essential for elimination of waste, nutrition absorption, internal repair of our body.
- We human beings are designed to do physical activities. We are not meant to sit and work.
- If you are involved in some kind of a desk job, then it is recommended for you to take a break frequently and walk around at least.
Over consumption of caffeine, dairy and alcohol.
- This is a no brainer.
- Alcohol interrupts with vital liver functions whose main responsibility is to filter and eliminate waste.
- Dairy is not digestion friendly; meaning animal milk is not easily digestible by human beings.
- Animal milk is meant for.. well, animals 🙂 not humans.
- Any milk or dairy is not gut friendly.
- It takes a lot to breakdown milk and dairy products.
- So, consumption should be limited.
- You can find other sources for calcium.
Garet: Wow, I can relate to some of my diet and lifestyle habits which are responsible for my symptoms.
So, how can I heal leaky gut and get back to my usual being with a lot of energy, vitality and get back my digestive ability.
James: Well, on a high level there are 3 ways through which you can eliminate toxic waste and heal leaky gut.
- First is to fix your diet, lifestyle and schedule.
- Second is eliminate toxic waste from your breath.
- Third is eliminate toxic waste from your mind through Transcendental Meditation.
Solutions to detoxify and heal leaky gut in Garet’s case
Detoxify: Diet and Schedule
- Have your largest meal during the afternoon.
- Eat during the same time every day.
- Do not drink cold fluids just before or after your meals.
- Do not drink cold water or fluids while you are having your meals.
- Drink warm water 30 minutes before your meal and an hour after your meal.
- Sip ginger tea once in a day to improve digestion.
- Eliminate heavy food types like meat and dairy.
- Eliminate caffeine and alcohol.
- Have fruits, fibre rich food and/eggs for breakfast.
- Avoid sugary, sweet, processed, canned food.
Detoxify: Yogic Breathing or Deep Breathing
Garet: Detoxify through breathing?
James: Yes. Deep breathing or yogic breathing is a recommended way of breathing for us.
But we humans do not do that.
What we normally do is breathe in and breathe out quite fast.
So, the air we breathe in does not reach all parts or systems of our body.
The recommended way or a healthy way to breathe is a 3 step process:
- Inhale: Take deep breath;
- Retain: hold the breath;
- Exhale: Then breathe out.
This way, the air (Oxygen) reaches to all the essential parts and systems within our body; carry back toxins and wastes in the form of air particles which can then be exhaled out.
There are several Deep Breathing and Yogic breathing techniques.
It is also referred to as Pranayama: Expansion of individual energy into cosmic energy!
Detoxify: Transcendental Meditation
Garet: In what form does toxin reside in the brain?
James: That is a good question. It resides in the form of stress, anxiety and depression.
Meditation helps to beat stress, anxiety and depression.
There are various studies that have been conducted to prove the benefits of Meditation.
One more important point I would like to stress here is regarding the hormone Cortisol.
Garet: What about it?
James: It is best known for it’s “fight or flight” response of the human body when encountered by a challenging event.
Our body, specifically the Nervous system operates in 2 different modes.
One mode is called Sympathetic mode and the other is called Parasympathetic mode.
Only one mode can be active at any given point in time.
Cortisol activates the Sympathetic mode which is the high stress mode.
After the event, cortisol is supposed to reduce and invoke Parasympathetic mode which is mainly useful for body’s rest and digestion response.
Due to poor diet, emotional or physical stress and lifestyle factors, cortisol levels soar to great heights and keep the Sympathetic mode active which increases Inflammation in the gut lining and Indigestion.
It will also negatively stimulate the brain.
Garet: Wow, that was very useful information James.
James: Glad it could help you Garet. I think you now know what actions you need to take to detoxify and heal leaky gut and get back to your normal active self.
Garet: You bet !
Reference
- TED Talk on Breathing
- Sitting Posture for Yogic Breathing
- Benefits of Deep Breathing
- How stress influences disease: Study reveals inflammation as the culprit
- Chronic Stress, Cortisol Dysfunction, and Pain
- Cortisol A-Z
- Stress, Inflammation, Immunity
- Sympathetic Nervous System
- Parasympathetic Nervous System
Conclusion
Eliminating toxins from the body is a crucial activity.
If there are factors affecting toxic elimination then the consequences that our body experiences are very dangerous.
As you have read through this post, some of the major factors that affect toxic elimination are lack of adequate sleep, irregular eating schedules, irregular meal potion sizes, lack of exercise, lot of sugar consumption.
We need to reverse all these factors to Detoxify and elevate our toxic elimination capacity.
Deep breathing or yogic breathing, adequate sleep, meditation and a healthy natural diet are major factors to help your body function at optimum levels and eliminate unnecessary toxins from the body.
What do you think regarding the detoxification techniques as a first step to heal leaky gut?
Do you follow any other methods to detoxify your body?
Either way, please comment and share for the benefit of others.
