5 Ways to Fix a Leaky Gut
What if your bloating wasn't caused by what you were eating, but by what was getting through your gut barrier?
Your gut barrier is the first line of defense in your digestive system. It is responsible for filtering out harmful toxins and bacteria while allowing essential nutrients to pass through. It can be compared to a castle wall, protecting your body from invaders while ensuring your overall health and wellbeing. Despite its critical role, many people overlook the importance of gut barrier health, and this can lead to unwanted bloating and a variety of other digestive discomforts and illness.
In this blog post, I explain the gut barrier in simple terms you can understand, and we’ll uncover the top 5 reasons why you should care about your gut barrier, how to tell if your gut barrier is in need of repair (sometimes called a “leaky gut”), and I’ll provide you with actionable tips to improve its health.
If you struggle with bloating, keep reading! This is important stuff!
Breaking It Down…
Your gut barrier is made of several components:
intestinal lining
tight junctions
mucus layer
beneficial bacteria living in the mucus layer
immune cells.
To better understand these components, I want you to imagine your gut barrier as the protective layers of a castle. This includes the castle walls, gate, moat, alligators, and guards. The inside of the castle is the rest of your body.
The intestinal lining acts like the castle's protective walls. It is made of specialized cells that are tightly packed together to form the only barrier between the contents of the intestine and the rest of the body. This lining is only one-cell thick. If damaged due to inflammation or infection, harmful substances can pass through and enter your body where they may cause other non-digestive symptoms or illness.
The tight junctions are the spaces between each of the cells of the intestinal lining. These are comparable to the castle gates, and they control what can and cannot pass through.
The mucus layer acts as the castle's moat. It lines the intestinal wall and provides a physical barrier to keep harmful substances out, and it also protects the intestinal lining from damage by invaders like bacteria or viruses, or undigested food particles.
The beneficial bacteria are like the alligators that live in the moat. Most of your beneficial bacteria live in mucus layer of your colon, and they make it more difficult for invaders to get through the mucus layer to the intestinal lining.
Finally, the immune system serves as the castle’s guards. You have specialized nerve cells that are part of your immune system that reside in your intestinal wall. They constantly monitor for intruders or potential threats. If one is detected, these specialized cells send an alarm to other immune cells to come immediately and attack the threat.
All of these components work together cohesively to filter out harmful substances, protect your body from infection, and allow for easeful digestion and absorption of nutrients.
Now you might be asking: what does this have to do with bloating?
Here are 5 reasons you should care about your gut barrier as it relates to bloating and your health:
1. Reduces inflammation: A healthy gut barrier keeps harmful substances out of blood circulation where they may otherwise cause damage to body tissues. This can look like bloating if the damage is in your gut, or it can present as a plethora of other symptoms if the damage is elsewhere (see below for signs that your gut barrier is in need of repair).
2. Fewer food reactions: A compromised gut barrier can lead to more food reactions. If your mucus layer isn’t in very good shape or there are spaces between your tight junctions when there shouldn’t be (otherwise known as “leaky gut”), this allows potentially harmful substances (such as undigested food particles) to reach the intestinal lining. This triggers an immune response from the “castle guards”, leading to bloating and other types of food reactions from inflammation.
3. Nutrient absorption: A well-maintained gut barrier promotes better nutrient absorption. By ensuring your castle's wall (intestinal lining) is strong and the gate (tight junctions) closes properly, your body can effectively absorb nutrients and keep harmful substances at bay. This helps you stay healthy and energized.
4. Immune function: A healthy gut barrier is essential for a strong immune system. Just like guards protect a castle from invaders, the immune system guards the gut barrier (and the rest of your body) from harmful pathogens. Keeping your gut barrier strong and healthy means your guards (immune system) are equipped to identify and fight any threats to your body.
5. Mental health: A healthy gut barrier can positively impact your mental health. Research has shown that more than 95% of the serotonin in your body is stored in the gut. Serotonin is a hormone that influences feelings of alertness, learning, memory, and happiness. By maintaining a healthy gut barrier, you can promote better cognitive function and help to reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression.
Now that you understand a few reasons why the gut barrier is so important, you might be wondering about yours. Because the gut barrier has many important roles, dysfunction or weakness might present in different ways.
Here are 16 signs that your gut barrier needs some extra TLC:
Painful gas or bloating
Bloating that gets worse as the day goes on
Diarrhea, constipation, or both
Multiple food sensitivities or food reactions
Floating or greasy looking stool
Yellow or orange stools
Sticky or tar-like stool
Nutrient deficiencies
Low energy
Brain fog or trouble concentrating
Frequent colds, yeast infections, or UTIs
Anxiety or depression
Muscle or joint pain
Skin conditions like acne or eczema
Headaches
Autoimmune conditions
If this list seems long, that’s because gut barrier health not only affects bloating and digestion, but your overall health. If any of these sound like you, here are five ways you can start to improve your gut barrier health:
1. Pay attention to diet. A healthy diet is essential for maintaining a strong gut barrier. Eating a diet rich in whole foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds, and lean proteins can help to promote the growth of beneficial bacteria, reduce inflammation, and support a healthy gut barrier.
2. Stay hydrated. Drinking plenty of water can help to maintain a healthy gut barrier by flushing out harmful toxins and supporting the mucus layer. Think of it as filling up your castle's moat to keep invaders out.
3. Find healthy ways to reduce and manage stress. Stress can negatively impact gut barrier health, making your gut leakier, contributing to inflammation, and causing imbalances in your beneficial bacteria and allowing harmful ones to take over. That’s why incorporating stress-reducing practices like meditation, yoga, or deep breathing exercises can help to support a healthy gut barrier.
4. Eat a variety of polyphenol-rich foods. Polyphenols are chemicals found in many deeply coloured plant foods like fruits and vegetables. They promote the growth of beneficial bacteria and support a healthy mucus layer, which in turn, strengthens your gut barrier’s defenses. Some examples of foods rich in polyphenols include apples, blueberries, citrus fruits, red onion, green tea, and dark chocolate. Think of these foods like your castle’s chef, who prepares nourishing meals to keep your guards strong.
5. Avoid harmful substances. Just like a castle would avoid inviting in known invaders, you should avoid harmful substances like inflammatory vegetables oils, refined sugar, artificial sweeteners, ultra-processed foods, and alcohol that can negatively impact gut barrier health. Reducing toxins in everyday household items like cleaning products and body care products also reduces toxic load. Limiting these substances can help to support a healthy gut barrier and keep invaders at bay.
By eating a healthy diet, consuming foods rich in polyphenols, reducing stress, staying hydrated, and avoiding harmful substances, you can support a healthy gut barrier, reduce your symptoms of bloating, and improve overall digestive health.
That being said, if you’re like many people who struggle with bloating and other digestive issues, your gut barrier may need even more support and maintenance. Think of it like this: even though you can change a lightbulb in your home, you probably need to call in an electrician to replace a faulty light fixture. Gut healing can be a much easier process when you have an expert to guide you.
That’s where my 12-week transformative program can help. I use a 5-step gut healing framework to help my clients turn their bloated belly into a happy gut with lasting results – and repairing your gut barrier is step 4 of this process.
For help in ditching the bloat and keeping your gut barrier strong and healthy, book a free 30-minute Gut Health Strategy Session to discover how 1:1 nutrition coaching can help.
