Top 10 Signs of a Leaky Gut

Have you done everything possible to feel better and heal, but still haven’t seen any positive traction or change?

Despite the different methods you’ve tried to treat your symptoms – a healthy diet, exercise, meditation, attitude adjustments, etc – does nothing relieve your discomfort?

Perhaps you feel:

• Tired
• Foggy or confused
• Emotionally heavy
• Moody
• Achy
• Have difficulty concentrating
• Or constantly battling stomach unrest… 

Maybe you even feel some combination of all of the above!

If so, your difficulties may be explained by something unexpected…

A “leak” in what may on the surface seem like a very unlikely place…

Has Your Gut Sprung A Leak?

Did you know? Between 70-80% of your immune system lives in your gut.

That’s right – The influence of your gut on your total body health cannot be overstated. It also means that to feel your best, your gut must be strong and in good health.

But here’s where things can get tricky; the delicate lining of your gut is under constant attack. Everyday it meets countless threats to your health head on. Without proper support, your gut can become compromised, and unable to support the many immunity needs of the body. 

This weakened state is a condition known as Leaky Gut. It’s believed by many health experts to be the root cause of dozens of health problems and stubborn symptoms… Even ones that seem completely unrelated to the gut!

As challenging as this may sound, it’s also great news because you now have a starting point to finally getting some positive wellness momentum… And it starts with supporting your gut and patching up the leaks.

What Is Leaky Gut?

Your gut is lined with a protective barrier that is in charge of determining which friendly substances are allowed in your bloodstream, and which unwanted guests should be denied entry. This feature is called selective permeability.

The gut barrier is made up of cells that form tight junctions (like interlocking fingers). And those cells get extra protection from a thick layer of mucus (the mucosal layer) that shields them against attackers.

When everything is working the right way, the gut barrier allows bloodstream access to only a select few beneficial particles. That’s how nutrients from food and supplements are able to pass through your gut and into your bloodstream (so they can travel to where they’re needed).

But sometimes troublemakers – like processed foods, infections, and certain medications – chip away at the mucus shield and bust those tight junctions wide open… poking micro tears in the barrier, which results in the gut “leak.” 

When your gut is leaky, foreign and unwanted materials like pathogens, toxins, and undigested food particles can sneak through into the bloodstream… where they absolutely don’t belong. Once those particles leak through, they’re able to access the super highway of your circulatory system, gaining access to every tissue and organ in your body. With this unlimited  access, these bad guys can cause all sorts of damage anywhere in your body. 

What Makes Your Gut Leak? 

Your gut barrier faces a wide range of challenges thanks to today’s modern world. That’s why millions of people struggle with leaky gut… Even though most people don’t realize it!

Some of these threats we can try to avoid. Others (like environmental toxins) are nearly impossible to escape completely. All of them can have a negative impact on your gut barrier, trigger a leaky gut, and potentially take you down from the inside.

Threats to your gut barrier and overall health include:

• Diets with high sugar
• Processed foods
• Known inflammatory foods (such as gluten and dairy)
• Pesticides, like glyphosate
• Stress (and/or poor stress management)
• Infections (including food poisoning and candida overgrowth)
• Dysbiosis (when bad bacteria in your gut outnumber beneficial bacteria)
• Medications (like antibiotics and NSAIDs)
• Intestinal parasites (more common that you’d think)
• Heavy metals
• BPA and other chemicals found in plastics 

Unfortunately, this is only a small sample of the numerous factors that may harm your gut barrier and leave you suffering with leaky gut.

How A Leaky Gut Creates Whole-Body Problems

It’s tough to comprehend how a leaky gut might impede your brain… stoke up allergies… or make your joints swell and  hurt…

But it’s true.

Once harmful particles escape through a weakened gut barrier and into your bloodstream, they can travel anywhere in your body to cause problems. Thankfully, your immune system spots these troublemakers and goes on the attack… But not without consequences to your body. This leaky gut immune response – which almost always involves inflammation – can cause a wide variety of symptoms.

In fact, the myriad of bad guys that can escape through a leaky gut and travel anywhere in your body can bewilder and confuse your immune system… So much so that it starts attacking you by accident.

That’s why it’s believed that virtually all autoimmune diseases—a condition where your immune system attacks healthy cells—involve (and likely spring from) a leaky gut.

10 Symptoms That Could Point to Leaky Gut

As you’ve learned, if you have a leaky in your gut barrier, you could encounter a number of challenges that seem completely unrelated to your gut. And while they all start in your gut… they don’t stop there.

Here are 10 tell tale signs of a leaky gut:

1. Gastrointestinal (GI) issues, including common bowel issues such as bloating, gas, constipation, and diarrhea
2. Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs), such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)
3. Any autoimmune disease, including rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, celiac disease, and psoriasis 
4. Allergies and asthma
5. Mood disorders like depression and anxiety 
6. Trouble thinking, concentrating, remembering, and learning 
7. Blood sugar issues, including type 1 and type 2 diabetes 
8. Eczema, and other skin conditions
9. Sleep issues, including trouble falling or staying asleep
10. Obesity and difficulty losing weight 

If you’re struggling with any of the above, your health advisor may have given you a few different diagnoses, as well as different protocols for soothing your symptoms. However, until the underlying problem—the leaky gut—gets addressed, truly feeling your best will always be just out of arm’s reach. 

How to Live Leak-Free

With a healthy and robust gut barrier, toxins, pathogens, and other harmful substances will be unable to access your bloodstream superhighway. Instead, they’ll remain locked safely inside your gut where they belong.

Keeping your gut barrier healthy is one of the most important things your can do for your body. And, for lasting gut and total body health, a proactive approach is best.

A smart gut maintenance protocol can includes things like:

• Getting rid of leaky gut-promoting foods in your diet, and eating a healthy, GMO-free, whole foods diet
• Keeping your gut junctions tight with gut-supportive foods
• As much as possible, avoiding inflammatory substances like gluten, pesticides, and NSAIDs
• Identifying and addressing gut infections
• Supporting your protective mucosal layer (more on that below)
• Maintaining a well-balanced gut microbiome where beneficial (probiotic) bacteria outnumber harmful (pathogenic) bacteria 

When it comes to living leak-free, one of your most powerful allies is the helpful bacteria that operate at ground zero in your gut. To support these microbes effectively, research has shown that supplying your gut with high quality, spore-based probiotics can make all the difference.

The Power of Spore-based Probiotics

Spore probiotics work dramatically different from the bacteria in yogurt and most other probiotic supplements. Nature has equipped this spore bacteria with a natural “endospore” shell that renders them impervious to the dangers of your digestive system (such as your stomach acid, which can dissolve metal). This allows spores to pass all the way through to your gut unharmed, where they rapidly spring into action.

In addition to crowding out harmful bacteria, spore probiotics help other beneficial bacteria flourish. This helps tip your gut bacterial populations in favor of the good guys, encouraging the health of your immune system and strength of your gut barrier. And the effectiveness of spore probiotics isn’t just allegorical:

In a groundbreaking, 2017 human clinical trial found that a blend of 4 specific strains of spore probiotics significantly addressed leaky gut – and all of the associated immune activation—in 30 days or less. Those spore probiotics include:

• Bacillus clausii, the only strain of probiotic known to resist damage from a variety of common antibiotics (a frequent cause of leaky gut)
• Bacillus subtilis HU58™, which produces at least 12 defensive compounds that show harmful bad guys the door, keeping the gut barrier healthy and strong
• Bacillus indicus HU36™, which produces potent, highly bioavailable antioxidants in your digestive tract that can effectively halt toxins and oxidative stress from causing barrier damage
• Bacillus coagulans, a well-known gut defender that helps reduce uncomfortable GI issues like gas and bloating

Healthy Mucus Means Strong Gut Support

In addition to spore probiotics, total gut support includes encouraging the health and protection of your mucosal layer.

Though “mucus” is not a word that many people often associated with health, your protective mucosa is one of your body’s most important resources!

In simple terms: It’s a thin barrier of mucus that lines your gut. Along with your gut barrier, the mucosal layer acts like a bouncer for your body.

When it’s healthy, it’s thick and bulky, it adds a critical layer of protection, helping keep food particles, bad bacteria, viruses, and toxins locked safely inside your gut, so they can’t escape into your bloodstream or the rest of your body.

Your body naturally supports your mucosal lining via specific amino acids such as L-proline, L-serine, L-cysteine, and L-tyrosine to produce mucus. In conjunction, your body also counts on daily antioxidant support to control a healthy inflammatory response and subdue mucus-destroying toxins.

Citrus polyphenols in particular are EXTRA potent because they also act as prebiotics – They nourish your beneficial bacteria… Suppress unwanted microbes… And support a well-balanced gut microbiome – All of which drive a healthy inflammatory response and help keep your mucosal barrier strong and protected.

That said, due to the number of environmental stressors we all encounter everyday, your gut barrier needs all the support you can get!

The good news is, there are specific dietary supplements that can help.  In fact, a growing body of research suggests that targeted nutrient supplementation can actually strengthen your mucosa and help reduce leaky gut and its harmful consequences.

A Healthy Gut = A Healthy You

If you’re not feeling your best, and struggling to get any traction on your symptoms, it’s time to take a closer look at your gut. Whether you’re feeling tired, bloated, suffering with skin problems, or experiencing headaches and joint pain, these ailments likely all map back to one culprit: A leaky gut.

The good news is that being proactive, there are things you can do to help improve your gut and patch the leaks. This including adding more gut-friendly foods to your diet, and staying away from the substances that are known to weaken your gut barrier. 

We hope these tips will help get you started on a path to better immune, digestive, and total body wellness!

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