2. LEAKY GUT
The digestive tract is
basically like a garden
hose.
A long tube with
openings at both ends.
As long as the hose is in tact it functions well
3. Inside our digestive tract live billions
upon billions of critters called flora.
Flora = Microbes
These microbes actually make up 90 %
of all the cells and genetic material in
your body!
So….they must be pretty darn
important!
4. Role of the good gut flora
• Help maintain the health and integrity of the gut
• Ensure proper digestion and absorption of food nutrients
• Produce some vitamins
• Protect us from invaders like bad bacteria, viruses, fungus
and parasites.
• Detoxify toxic substance that we ingest or that need to be
carried out of the body.
• Modulate the immune system.
5. Ideally, we put food in our
mouths
• chew and digest it.
• get all the nutrients and energy
from it we need.
• what is left exits the body as a
bowel movement.
Without an active community of flora,
digestion and absorption are impaired and
nutrient deficiencies develop.
6. When gut flora get damaged….
The cells of the intestines themselves become malnourished and begin to
degenerate. These cells begin to loosen their grip on one another and the
intestinal wall becomes overly permeable… Leaky!
Food particles that have not been fully broken down enter the blood stream.
7. This is not as it should be
The body doesn’t like it and reacts with alarm!
Immune response, inflammation (chronic) and allergies.
+ The defensive barrier to toxins and pathogenic microbes is
compromised allowing them to filter through into the blood.
Greatly increased toxic burden.
8. Increased Toxic Burden
The increase in inflammation and toxicity puts added burden on our
systems of detoxification.
▪ Skin
▪ Lungs
▪ Colon
▪ Lymph
▪ Liver
▪ Kidneys
This is where we tend to see or experience the symptoms of illness.
Think eczema, psoriasis, asthma, IBS etc…
9. What damages the flora?
▪ Antibiotics both personal and heavy use by meat producers
▪ Steroid use including birth control pills
▪ Stress
▪ Poor diet
▪ Infection
▪ Being bottle fed
▪ Alcohol
▪ Pollution
▪ Toxic chemicals
▪ Dental work
10. Damage to the beneficial flora also
makes the gut vulnerable to:
• Opportunistic bacteria
• Fungus like Candida
• Parasitic infection
To make matters worse!
These bad guys can cause:
• Further inflammation and damage to the
gut wall.
• More problems with proper digestion and
nutrient absorption.
• The triggering of a systemic immune
response.
11. Cascade of Consequences
▪ Because the body systems do not operate in
isolation but are interconnected and dependant on
one another an imbalance in one place can cause a
whole cascade of consequences far down the line.
12. A Gut Out Of Balance
A Body Out Of Balance
Illness
• Inflammation
• Allergies
• Infections
• Nutrient deficiencies
13. The Good News
Leaky Gut can be overcome!
And…It is not that hard
www.realfoodrevolutionary.com
