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Four Steps to Heal Your Digestion

4/22/2020

Digestive issues, like irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), are frustrating to resolve. All you want to do is to get better, so it’s understandable that many people skip straight through several steps when attempting to heal their gut. In reality however, there are several stages to the process that must happen before this can happen efficiently and with longevity.

The Four “R” Protocol provides a framework to heal your digestive tract in a systematic and effective way. You start with step one and move through them to the step four, although it’s important to note that the process isn’t always linear. You might circle back a step or two several times as you learn what is and isn’t working for you until you might feel like you’re making real progress. This doesn’t make you a failure, it’s just part of the process!

1. Remove
The first step involves removing anything that’s causing harm to your system. This might include removing gluten, alcohol, and sugar. It will often involve learning about and tracking your symptoms and the food you're eating, your stress levels, and other variables you feel might be contributing to your symptoms. This stage is about controlling symptoms, preventing further damage to your gut, and reducing inflammation. In preventing further damage you’re also avoiding worsening nutritional deficiencies while also improving your quality of life.

This is the stage where you would add in the anti-fungal Truehope OLE (Olive Leaf Extract) if you have risk factors for Candida Albicans overgrowth. This supplement would be one of your first steps to removing something that may be damaging your gut.

2. Replace
The second step often overlaps with the first. As you start removing things from your diet and lifestyle that you’ve identified as being problematic, you’re encouraged to replace them with things that are healthier for you. This might mean removing several categories of FODMAPS such as polyols and galactans, and instead replacing them with FODMAP free fruits and vegetables. It may also mean stopping your habit of checking your phone as soon as you wake up, and instead replacing it with 10 minutes of meditation.

This is the stage where you’re starting to control systemic symptoms and your digestion will slowly start improving, as will the absorption of nutrients.
You would continue with Truehope OLE (Olive Leaf Extract) throughout this stage, and perhaps even add in Truehope Nascent Iodine for stomach acid production and thyroid support.

3. Reinoculate
The third step focuses on supporting gut repair by reinoculating your gut with beneficial bacteria, and continuing to nourish your body with nutrient dense foods. In this stage you will continue to see digestive improvements, a lessening of symptoms as your overall health and well being improves.

This is the stage where it may be appropriate to have a renewed focus on fermented foods, to add in probiotics as well as the highly bioavailable Truehope EMPower Plus. You may continue with Truehope OLE, and Nascent Iodine depending on your personal health context. At this stage it’s common to slip back to the Replace stage occasionally as you try new things. If you experience bloating when you take probiotics for example, you might need to lessen your dose and take the introduction slower.

4. Repair
The final stage is focused on correcting gut dysbiosis, preventing recurrence, and providing longevity to all the effort you have put in. You might work on maintaining the things you’ve struggled with in the past such as stomach acid production, strengthening your immune system, or continuing to heal and reduce inflammation by drinking bone broth.

The work doesn’t end once you get to this stage! Vigilance and maintenance are still important and it’s common to continue with tactics and supplementation from previous stages until you get signs that healing is truly happening. This would include seeing your personal tolerance level for previously problematic foods improve, food sensitivities resolve themselves, or improvements in your mental health.

Digestive issues like IBS can be time consuming to heal, but if you understand the structure of the Four R Protocol, you’re able to make the healing process much quicker and more effective.

Truehope Olive Leaf Extract and Your IBS Symptoms

4/15/2020

Irritable bowel syndrome, or IBS, is the most commonly diagnosed gastrointestinal condition. It’s so common that either you or someone you know is likely affected by it. Treatment, however, is often ineffective because it’s not based on the individualized root cause of the condition.

IBS is multifactorial, which means that there’s never just one solution that’s going to be a miracle worker for you. One consideration to look into is gut dysbiosis. This condition is characterized by an imbalanced or maladapted microbiome in the digestive tract. It is possible your gut flora are imbalanced -- “good” bacteria are outnumbered by “bad” bacteria, or an opportunistic pathogen has been able to proliferate.

The yeast Candida Albicans is one such possibility, and can be a major contributor to gut dysbiosis. Many of the symptoms associated with IBS are also common with those dealing with Candida overgrowth. You are a higher risk from gut dysbiosis due to Candida if you have:
- Recently taken broad spectrum antibiotics
- Recently taken corticosteroids
- Been on the birth control pill
- Been treated for cancer recently
- Noticed you have a weak immune system
- Been eating a diet high in processed foods and low in vegetables

Increasingly, the evidence is showing that yeasts can cause IBS symptoms due to the antigens and cross-antigens the yeast produces. Candida Albicans can release over 70 different harmful byproducts into your body!

You can attempt to improve symptoms and eliminate pathogenic Candida Albicans in the kitchen by altering your diet to be free from:
- Processed sugars and sweeteners -- they are inflammatory and feed the yeast.
- Alcohol, which contributes to a leaky gut, and particularly wine and beer which are fermented and contain yeasts.
- Dried fruit and fruit juices due to their high sugar content.
- Grains, due to their high carbohydrate content which ultimately breaks down into simple sugars, and also gluten which is inflammatory and can contribute to leaky gut.
- Starchy vegetables like fruit, potatoes and sweet potatoes.
- Legumes such as beans, which have a high starch content and break down into simple sugars, as well has having a high FODMAP content, making them hard to digest.
- Fermented foods such as sauerkraut and kombucha -- though normally considered healthy, due to their yeast content they may be better left for later, after you’ve eliminated the Candida and can start healing your digestive tract.

It is also wise to take an effective anti-fungal like Truehope OLE (Olive Leaf Extract). The polyphenol Oleuropein that makes olive oil so special is the same ingredient that gives olive leaf extract its anti-fungal and anti-Candida properties.

The Oleuropein found in Truehope OLE (Olive Leaf Extract) is a liquid extract made from fresh olive leaves, and is standardized to 17% Oleuropein. This concentration allows you to get all the benefits at a greater concentration than you get from the oil.

If you have high risk factors for gut dysbiosis that are accompanied with IBS we recommend adding Truehope OLE to your regimen, and considering the dietary changes. It’s also a good idea to track your IBS symptoms to learn which changes are being effective for you.

Are FODMAPS Contributing to Your IBS?

4/8/2020

Did you know that there are otherwise healthy foods that might be making your IBS symptoms worse? We’re sure you’ve heard that eating more fruits, vegetables and whole grains is a good foundation for overall health. But if there was ever a time when generalizations don’t work, it’s when dealing with IBS!

Today we’ll introduce you to the idea of FODMAPS, so you can start tracking them in your diet to see if they exacerbate your IBS symptoms. To start tracking your symptoms, diet and lifestyle factors and how they relate to your IBS, make sure you check out our recent article Tracking IBS Symptoms is the First Step in Healing.

FODMAPS stands for fermentable oligo-, di-, mono-saccharides and polyols. In other words, short chain fermentable carbohydrates which are hard to digest. They stay in the digestive tract where your gut bacteria eat them and wreak havoc in digestively sensitive people. Studies have shown they can worsen bloating, abdominal pain, diarrhea, constipation and gas.

The problems stem from malabsorption, lacking the enzymes you need for digestion such as lactase which digests lactose, and problems with the transporters that help you absorb nutrients like fructose. Having the wrong type or balance of bacteria in your gut, a condition called gut dysbiosis can also be linked to FODMAPS.

Common FODMAPS you should be tracking in your symptom journal, and may consider avoiding are:
- Lactose is a carbohydrate found in dairy products. For example milk, yogurt, ice cream, and soft cheeses
- Fructose is a sugar found in fruits, vegetables, and agave nectar. For example apples, cherries, grapes, fruit juice, asparagus, artichoke and watermelon
- Fructans and found in many goods, but especially wheat, spelt, barley and rye. You will also find them in cabbage, leeks, onions, snow peas and broccoli
- Galactans are found in high quantities in legumes like baked beans, broad beans, chickpeas, kidney beans and lentils
- Polyols are found in sweeteners like zylitol, maltitol, sorbitol, and mannitol as well as fruits and vegetables like avocado, snow peas, blackberries, peaches, nectarines, cauliflower and celery

This list isn’t exhaustive, but if you find that you’re struggling with apples for example, you might also be having trouble digesting other fructose rich foods too!

FODMAPS can be overwhelming as they can leave you wondering what else is there to eat? Here are some ideas:
- Protein like meats, poultry, fish, tofu, eggs and most nuts and seeds
- Grains like buckwheat, maize, polenta, quinoa, rice and tapioca
- Dairy like hard cheeses (for example cheddar and parmesan), feta cheese, cream, butter, ghee, and clarified butter.
- Cheddar cheese, cream, feta cheese, lactose-free milk and Parmesan cheese.
- Fruits and vegetables like kale, lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, zucchini, green beans, ripe bananas, blueberries, kiwifruit, citrus fruit, pineapple, raspberries, white potatoes and plantains.

It’s common to feel you have little to no control when you’re experiencing IBS. Tracking the food you're eating, and monitoring if FODMAPS are exacerbating your symptoms can help. Once you have identified problematic foods try eliminating them for a few months. You’ll notice an improvement in your symptoms, and this is when you need to start a gut healing protocol which will ultimately allow you to restart food introductions.

Tracking IBS Symptoms is the First Step in Healing

4/1/2020

As many as 13-20% of Canadians are currently experiencing Irritable Bowel Syndrome or IBS, and the lifetime risk for a Canadian to develop the condition is a significant 30%. This means that you or someone you love will experience IBS.

IBS is a chronic gastrointestinal disorder that comes with a range of digestive symptoms like bloating, abdominal pain, constipation, and diarrhea. There aren’t any medical tests that can give you a definitive diagnosis, but it’s the most commonly diagnosed gastrointestinal condition.

IBS can be broken down into:
- IBS-D is when you mainly experience watery stools in the form of diarrhea
- IBS-C means you primarily have hard, difficult to pass stools, or constipation
- IBS-M means you fluctuate between diarrhea and constipation, even during the same bowel movement

Tracking your symptoms IBS can feel nebulous because it’s hard to know where your symptoms are coming from and why. It can be challenging to get control over the situation and feel like you’re able to help yourself. This is why tracking your symptoms and other variables are a crucial first step in understanding what is and isn’t working for you. With this information you can start the healing process.

The idea is to monitor your symptoms, their frequency, and severity. In a dedicated journal create a chart and monitor:
- Symptoms like bloating, abdominal pain, flatulence, belching, feelings of urgency, acid reflux, fatigue, depression, brain fog, plus anything else unique to you
- Frequency of symptoms such as daily, almond daily, 3-4 times per week, 1-2 times per week, or rarely
- Severity of symptoms like mild, moderate, and severe, or giving them a score out of 10.
- You should also keep track of the frequency, form and consistency of your bowel movements. Consulting a Bristol Stool Chart gives you a framework to reference

It would also be wise to journal what you’re eating at every meal, your fluid intake, exercise, stress levels, as well as what’s fueling or alleviating your stress. Over time you will start to see patterns, and things you can do to start feeling better.

One final consideration when you’re tracking all this information is the idea of your personal tolerance threshold. Your symptoms may only appear once you exceed your personal tolerance threshold for the day. An example of this is you may not get symptoms with a quarter of an avocado per day, but half an avocado has you doubled over in pain. A further example is that you might eat a quarter of an avocado one day, but also eat garlic that day (or even the next day) which will push you over your personal threshold if garlic can also be problematic for you. If you didn’t know avocado was giving you symptoms, you risk assuming just garlic is the problem.

Your personal tolerance threshold for the day is a dose dependent reaction that adds up over time. This is why food reintroductions always start with a bite one day, then a larger chunk the next, until you have slowly built up to a full serving size.

It’s common to feel you have little to no control when you’re experiencing IBS. Tracking your symptoms, the food you're eating, your stress levels, and other variables you feel might be contributing is a good way to empower yourself in the healing process.

Author

We want to provide nothing but the highest quality information and advice for our followers to improve their health, which is why at Truehope Canada, we're happy to say our writer is a Certified Life Coach and Registered Holistic Nutritionist.
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