Feed that Gut!

24. August 2010 by Rachel Marynowski, ND 7 Comments

Avocados are a wonderful whole food!

In previous blog posts we tackled specific food offenders and a protocol to heal that leaky, grumpy gut. Now let’s devote a little time to giving the gut what it wants! In turn, overall health benefits will abound!

A balanced, varied diet

First and foremost, by focusing on a whole-foods based diet (not the store!), you will satisfy your body’s nutrient requirements WHILE pleasing the gut. I’m all about multi-tasking! This general term, “whole-foods based,” simply refers to a dietary regimen composed of more natural food items including fruits, veggies, nuts, and whole grains in their original form.

A good rule of thumb is to eat foods as close to coming right out of the ground as possible, the least amount of processing involved the better. Unfortunately, there are no Cheeto farms or ice cream ponds… so no, sorry, these are not included in the plan. When visiting the grocery store, stick to the outside perimeter—A.K.A. the grocery store racetrack (please don’t run anyone over with your buggy! It’s not really a race). The outer perimeter is where the fruits, veggies, fresh meats, nuts, and grains are typically located. If you tend to venture into the inner aisles during the majority of your grocery store adventures, you may indeed be a junk-food junkie. That’s okay though, no need to beat yourself up about it, now’s the time to make some changes!

Water

Moving on to the liquids department…hydration is of key importance and is essential to the body’s organs and cells! Dehydration can affect us in a number of ways including causing headaches, gastrointestinal disturbances, fatigue, and an inability to clear toxins from the body to name a few. Unfortunately, we often fall short of consuming our body’s daily requirements.

We wake up, have a nice, steamy cup of joe or tea, have a soda or two throughout the day and end with more coffee or perhaps an after-dinner cocktail. All of these substances affect the body’s internal water balance. In addition, if you wait until you are actually thirsty to take a sip of water, you are likely mildly dehydrated at that point. Major bummer!

Think about it this way… have you ever chugged a big gulp of soda and immediately regretted it because your tummy gets all bubbly, prickly, and gasey? Now imagine our poor little cells, including those lining the gut lumen, the first ones to encounter substances like soda… all of a sudden, the cellular milieu is inundated with carbonated bubbles, phosphoric acid, caramel food coloring, benzoate, and fructose or sucrose molecules. And all cells really want is plain old water! Imagine trying to function with all of this surrounding you—it’s got to be distracting for our unlucky little cells! Nutrients and wastes need to flow freely in and out of our cells. Water, not soda, facilitates this process. So give those poor guys some water, will ya?

Fiber

Obtaining adequate fiber is another point of contention as most Americans do not eat enough on a daily basis. The National Institute of Health recommends 35 grams of fiber per day. Fiber prevents waste materials from becoming stagnant in the gut and therefore helps to keep things moving along. In addition to keeping the gut happy, it’s also essential for cholesterol management, weight loss, proper liver function, prevention of cardiovascular disease, prevention of cancer, and more. Fiber, specifically soluble fiber, also acts as a prebiotic for gut bacteria. They eat the fiber and give off SCFAs, the fuel for those gut cells. My next blog post will talk all about pre- and probiotics, so stay tuned.

Good sources of fiber include beans, whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. Refined foods tend to have less fiber due to manufacturing processes. As a frame of reference, a medium-sized pear has roughly 6 grams of fiber, while an avocado has about 12 to 14 grams. Beans are also a great source! So if you have a pear, a nice large salad with an avocado, and a cup of beans throughout a single day, congratulations…you have reached your goal. Your gut will thank you!

Now that a friendly reminder of the gut’s wants and needs has been offered, go out there and conquer! Afterwards, be sure to evaluate how well your gut is responding to these newly implemented changes by completing a GI Effects Function Profile. This test will allow you to monitor predominant flora, fiber intake, and inflammation in the gut. Any areas of weakness found in your individual results will focus your efforts in order to bring about a greater level of health.

Thanks for reading! Until next time, remember to keep your gut happy, healthy, and free of dysfunction! —Dr. Marynowski

Your Gut Health – Additional Resources:

Walter Goggins

8/25/2010 1:11:47 AM #

Dr. Marynowski,

As far as consuming legumes, would you generally advise against consuming the canned variety and trying to prepare your own as much as possible? The canned option is quick and ultra-convenient, but I suppose a large portion of any benefit derived would be offset (and maybe then some) by the toxins (lectins, for example) and anti-nutrients (tannins, phytic acid, protease inhibitors, etc.) present in beans that haven't been thoroughly soaked (and possibly also fermented), and even anything that manages to leech itself from the can into the food. Or would any of these potential issues likely not matter if sticking to around one modest serving per day?

C. J. Zaworski

8/25/2010 9:27:55 PM #

Dr. Rach,
I think I definitely "feed my gut" too much and definitely not with the right stuff! The more I read the information in your blogs it seems like the traditional wisdom of eating well when we were kids has done a 180. For example, I always thought a nice glass of OJ was a good thing...but maybe not if it's the cause of gut probs. I am absolutely amazed at this way of approaching diet and wellness and even more so with your ongoing blog/writings on the subject!!
Thanks, Ceej

Dr. Marynowski

8/27/2010 9:30:14 AM #

Hi Walter, great question! In a perfect world, it's more beneficial to purchase dried organic beans, and to properly prepare them yourself- avoiding the canning process all together as it does indeed, as you mentioned, introduce unnecessary chemicals into our bodies and causes a decrease in overall nurtient status of the food product. Now, in being realistic, considering the busy lives we all lead, if you havent planned ahead 8-hours in advance to soak your beans, etc, an organic, low sodium canned bean still offers many great health benefits. Beans are such a great source of protein, complex carbs, fiber, calcium, potassium & folate. So eat away...in moderation of course!! Hope that helps!

Dr. Sally Nay

8/30/2010 1:09:52 PM #

If the client has gastroparesis is there a way to get fruits and vegetables and whole foods into them without causing additional problems? M.D. has told her to avoid fiber, period!

9/10/2010 4:18:12 PM #

Thanks for your post, Ceej. You raise a great point! We have indeed learned a lot by way of nutritional biochemistry and more simply, how food affects our health, since the time of our childhood. The more we dive into this topic, the more we are able to prove that everything we put into our bodies, more specifically our gut, absolutely plays a significant role in our overall health. Unfortunately, some of the practices thought to be beneficial years ago, when food was fresher, cleaner, less processed, and when farming processes were different (less chemicals, less genetic modification, etc)food items like a nice glass of OJ were indeed wonderful for most of us (permitting there's no allergy to citrus, of course). With that said, if you stick to a nice colorful plate, made up of a proper balance of nutrients, closest as possible to right out of the ground, you'll be well on your way. And still adhering to the valuable lessons Mom taught us! Feed that gut the good stuff, will ya?!

9/10/2010 4:36:47 PM #

Hi Dr. Nay,

There are many factors that contribute to a case of gastroparesis. Considering that fiber is so very important to the gut, it would be important to explore her condition further. For example, since fiber requires adequate hydration levels to do its job in the gut (fiber & water are partners), could dehydration be the cause of why fiber exacerbates her condition and in turn, why she was told to avoid it? Or if she has dysfunctional gastric emptying, is she hypochlorhydric (often under-diagnosed) or does she have other areas of general gut dysfunction, or even food allergies perhaps? Have you ran a GI Function Profile on her?

There are a number of products on the market known as "green foods". These are basically ground-up fruits and vegetables, usually in powder form, that a person can take in efforts to obtain necessary nutrients in absence of dietary contribution. Of course, they do not compare to the real thing but if there are limited circumstances as in your patient's case, this may be better than nothing at all.

Hope that helps, best of luck!