Natural Remedies for Leaky Gut Syndrome

By the time people find their way to my Crohn’s, colitis, and diverticulitis treatments, their bacterial flora is usually unbalanced throughout their gastrointestinal tract. The repeated use of antibiotics (often since childhood) and the invasive medical diagnostic tests alone have destroyed much of the “good” (protective) bacteria in their small and large intestines. When the good, protective bacteria are depleted, then disease-causing organisms like yeast (Candida albicans), viruses, parasites, and bad bacteria flourish.

If you get too much ‘bad’ bacteria and Candida yeast in your gut and not enough ‘good’ bacteria, these pathogens will degrade the mucosal lining and even penetrate through the intestinal wall. NSAIDS (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) and alcohol also degrade the mucosal lining. This causes undigested particles of food to pass directly into the bloodstream, where they are perceived as allergens and trigger an immune response.

This excess of disease-causing microorganisms causes inflammation and damage to the mucosal lining, resulting in IBS, Inflammatory Bowel Disease, and leaky gut syndrome. The undigested food particles and bacteria that seep into the bloodstream can also trigger allergic reactions and infection in other places in the body, like the joints, skin, eyes, etc.

Natural Treatment for Leaky Gut Syndrome

The cornerstone treatment for healing the mucosal lining and creating a protective, healthy gut microbiome is to kill the pathogenic microorganisms (yeast, bad bacteria) and re-populate the gut with beneficial bacteria. While you’re doing this, you can simultaneously take supplements and drink organic or pasture-raised bone broth to heal the intestinal tissue and restore the mucosal lining.

1. Kill off the Candida yeast and bad bacteria – Use either wild oregano oil or olive leaf extract (both well tolerated for IBD) to bring down the overgrowth of these pathogenic microorganisms. See my book, Jini’s Healing Guide: Natural Treatments for Gut Infection, or use Jini’s Wild Oregano Oil Protocol (contained in most of my other books) to accomplish this.

2. Re-populate with good bacteria – Ingesting good bacteria improves digestion, absorption, and elimination of food. Certain strains of bacteria help produce digestive enzymes, peptides, amino acids, and B vitamins for your body’s use. They also inhibit or eliminate pathogenic microorganisms, like yeast, fungus, parasites, and bad bacteria. Do not take the probiotics in capsule form if you are having more than 3 bowel movements per day as the transit time through the gut is too fast, and the capsule may not have a chance to dissolve and disperse properly. Ideally, and for the fastest relief, start with Jini’s Probiotic Retention Enema. Then follow with oral supplementation.

3. Use bone broths to heal the intestinal lining – the high levels of gelatin in properly prepared bone broth from organic or pasture-raised animals is extremely healing for the gut. Here’s more info on the health benefits of bone broth, and you can download this free broth recipe eBook to get you started.

4. Use targeted supplements like N-acetyl glucosamine, slippery elm, marshmallow root, licorice, etc. to heal the gut lining (take on an empty stomach), or use MucosaCalm – which has all of them combined.

If your symptoms are severe – especially if you experience intestinal ulceration or bleeding, then The IBD Remission Diet may be the best way to heal the gut.

The IBD Remission Diet is a comprehensive bowel rest healing program that utilizes an elemental diet for the backbone of the program, but there are also other components included that are absolutely vital for healing the gut and inducing disease remission.

So we combine an elemental diet with targeted supplements, homemade broths, and natural anti-pathogens:

1. An elemental diet – the elemental diet shakes provide the majority of the nutrients and calories, whilst providing bowel rest. The shakes must be 100% natural and elemental, or semi-elemental in nature; this means the nutrients are pre-digested, and so much of the work of digestion and absorption is already done for the body. A sufficient number of calories per day must be consumed to address malnutrition, fuel wound healing, and promote growth in children.

2. Targeted supplementation – a number of specifically chosen supplements must be added to the shakes on a daily basis. These supplements help to heal the mucosal lining of the intestine, reduce inflammation, repair tissue damage, support enzyme production, and hormonal pathways, facilitate optimal cellular function, and balance the immune system.

3. Homemade broths – Those of you who have my book, The IBD Remission Diet, know that bone broths (which contain very high levels of gelatin) are a crucial component of the Diet and contribute to healing the gut and the whole body. Sally Euclaire Osborne MS writes this about gelatin:
   

   “Scientific studies dating back to the turn of the century suggest that gelatin improves the digestion of grains, beans, meat and dairy products and that it can normalize cases of hydrochloric acid deficiency. In addition, gelatin can soothe, protect and nourish the intestinal lining. As Erich Cohn of the Medical Polyclinic of the University of Bonn wrote back in 1905, “Gelatin lines the mucous membrane of the intestinal tract and guards against further injurious action on the part of the ingesta.”

   Further support of gelatin came in 1937 when Francis Pottenger noted, “Even foods to which individuals may be definitely sensitive, as proven by the leucopenic index and elimination diets, frequently may be tolerated with slight discomfort or none at all if gelatin is made part of the diet.”

   Note: When you’ve finished the IBD Remission Diet, you can continue to drink the broths straight, or use them as a soup base for a wide variety of noodle and vegetable soups, or meat and vegetable stews. Use them as a base for sauces and gravy, or cook rice or quinoa in broth rather than water. Work them in wherever you can, as you can never eat too much of this rejuvenating food!

   If you have my books, then you will have some good recipes for bone broths there, or you can also use these recipes by Sally Fallon – from her Nourishing Traditions cookbook.

4. Anti-pathogen protocol – you need to improve the bacterial flora in your gut. You can do this by either just taking probiotics, or better yet, by doing Jini’s Wild Oregano Oil Protocol, followed by probiotics.

*Remember that your gut is also affected and degraded by emotional pain, anger, trauma, etc. So also pursue mind/body healing modalities like craniosacral (Level 2 or higher), EFT Tapping, or hypnotherapy.

Here’s a Free Guided Healing Meditation to get you started:

Also, I highly encourage you to join me for a free Lazer Tapping session, which is my version of EFT or acupressure tapping.

I set up this course to teach YOU how to be your own healer, so you don’t have to pay a therapist for a session every time something arises that needs healing.

When I learned how to tap, I tapped continually for 2 years – and 15 years later it is still a cornerstone therapy for my excellent health and ability to thrive. Save the professionals for the big stuff, and learn how to heal your own pain, anxiety, fear, worry, etc. as it arises. Come do a free session with me and see what you think!

JINI

Jini Patel Thompson is an internationally recognized expert on natural healing for digestive diseases. She healed herself from widespread Crohn’s Disease and has remained drug and surgery-free for over 25 years. Jini has appeared on numerous podcast, TV, and radio shows throughout the U.S., U.K., Canada, and Australia, giving people hope and vision for how they can heal their Colitis, Crohn’s, Diverticulitis and Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), using entirely natural methods. Her books on natural healing for digestive diseases have sold worldwide in over 80 countries.