Share your gut healing approach

[AquariusHome]

I'm overwhelmed by all the information on gut healing and I'm wondering if there are portions of the approach that are more important than others? Easier to start with than others?

If you are trying to do some gut healing to help your LO's or your own food sensitivities, what specific things are you doing?

TIA -

[kjbrown92]

I do fish oil for me. DD has coconut milk yogurt and CLO in her smoothies (a few times a week). I was doing bone broth (chicken and beef) until DD turned out intolerant to beef and DS turned out intolerant to chicken!! We avoid all the foods that we're intolerant of (most important, in my mind). And we have digestive enzymes, but I haven't started anybody on it yet.

[Chinese Pistache]

For me: Probiotics (Culturelle, Reuteri, Kirkman's Pro-bio), CLO, Vitamin C with quercetin (Twinlabs), Glutamine (Twinlabs), Biotin, Digestive Enzymes (Enzymedica, multi-vitamin

DD: probiotics (Kirkman's pro-bio and bifido complex) , clo, enzymes when I can get them into her, multi-vitamin, glutamine when she'll take it.

[mtn.mama]

probiotics, CLO, zinc, vitamin C, glutamine, chlorella, Morinda

[changingseasons]

probiotics, nettle/quercetin blend, Vitamin C, bone broth
(we can't do fish oil... otherwise that would be on the list too.)

[Shelsi]

Originally Posted by kjbrown92

I do fish oil for me. DD has coconut milk yogurt and CLO in her smoothies (a few times a week). I was doing bone broth (chicken and beef) until DD turned out intolerant to beef and DS turned out intolerant to chicken!! We avoid all the foods that we're intolerant of (most important, in my mind). And we have digestive enzymes, but I haven't started anybody on it yet.

How do you make coconut milk yogurt?

For me I take digestive enzymes, vit C, glutamine, and CLO
dd is on probiotics and bone broth. I can't get her to take the CLO anymore.

[ellasmama2007]

we avoid all the things that seem to bother her and keep a food journal. i had elim dairy etc forever ago, but her best healing seemed to happen when i also took out wheat/gluten and started completegest enzymes. i saw a huge improvement in her personality when i stopped gluten even though i didnt even think it was a problem in the first place. i just thought it *might* help.
i also take multivits, clo, l-glutamine, quercetin, calcium/magnesium. i also consider myself her personal poop inspector.

[menomena]

1. We all avoid all foods which we know or suspect have provoked a reaction. including many, i'm sure, that she is okay with, but we continue to avoid consuming them to avoid becoming sensitized.

2. We all take daily probiotics. Up the dose to 2-3x per day if there is any yeast symptoms what-so-ever, particularly red, rashy privates - she doesn't wipe very well and doesn't always let me help. (Slightly OT: We switched to cloth wipes instead of toilet paper and that seems to have helped as well.) We also increase if we are gassy, diarrhea, or other stomach upset.

3. DD1 & I take enzymes with any non-raw meal.

4. We all take Cod Liver Oil daily. (From Twinlabs - just oil & mint flavor)

5. DD1 & I take vitamins daily. Calcium/Magnesium/Zinc & B-complex for me. Multivitamin (Iron-free) for DD1.

6. Other supplements: DD1 has started on a daily L-lysine supplement (those who don't eat wheat and/or dairy may be lacking). I take MSM & glutamine daily. I would like DD1 too as well, but the pills are huge and she won't take them. She nurses though, so it's getting in there. Oh, I was also taking a Quercitin/Bromalain/Vit C supplement, but I ran out and never replaced it...

7. Homemade chicken bone broth in EVERYTHING in lieu of water.

8. Lots and lots and lots of water.

9. We try to food combine as much as possible (lots of veggies with every meal; don't eat grains or proteins or starchy veggies with one another) and avoid too much fruit and avoid sugar to help keep any yeast issues at bay.

10. I drink nettle tea when I remember. I aim for daily, but this doesn't always happen.


We're a little... zealous... about healing over here. DD1 has had chronic, itchy, scabby eczema pretty much non-stop since January of 2007. [We didn't start elim until May 2007 and didn't start gut healing until Feb of this year.] It's been a long, long, long journey, but I think we're finally starting to get somewhere.

[greencat]

Eczema=Leaky Gut Syndrome by Yeast Over-growth

My DD 6 and DS 4 get eczema from sugar (except corn syrup), gluten and hot, humid weather. They may be allergic to whey, I'm not sure. Their eczema shows more vividly after a hot bath. It started when my DD started solid foods, which I innocently started with oat meal, Cheerio, etc. After I tried lotions, Aroma Therapy, Herbs, Homeopathy and other home remedies, I realized wheat was making her to cry more, sleep less and eczema to flair up more. I took food diary and listed everything we ate. Sure enough, the list of foods that was causing the eczema to appear more clearly. And, the list was long: Eggs, all kind of sugar, gluten, whey to group them up. Since I breastfed exclusively, I had to put myself on the special diet as well. And it turns out to be that I am better to avoid gluten as well.

Yeast was a big problem since my DD was born. I read about yeast, constipation, Leaky Gut Syndrome, and learned about SCD (Specific Carbohydrate Diet) to better our immune function and our colon environment/function. I later met Karen DeFelice who happens to live near me and put ourselves on digestive enzyme (this was before SCD web site, www.pecanbread.com was updated with the info on digestive enzyme.)

We are not on the strict SCD anymore due to my belief that it doesn't work like a cookie cutter. (As a side line, I worked as a diet counselor as I graduated from college. I believe you will lose weight if you follow a weight loss program as it is laid out for you--Diet Center, Jenny Craig, Protein Diet, South Beach, I don't care what. However, SCD doesn't work like that for everybody. Everyone digest foods differently, and their gut condition is different. Also, I wasn't doing the SCD to control Celiacs, Colitis, Crohn's or IBS. SCD can also help Autism and other conditions on its spectrum up to some degree, but so can other anti-yeast diet. I know this because I have LD.) However, if you are going to give a try to SCD, I recommend reading the book and websites well at first and follow the diet religiously, with a solid Into Stage. And, commit to it at least 6mo. minimum before you see a result. The gut healing takes time.) I believe SCD yogurt is a must and adding proper digestive enzyme is a big help in healing process. We still eat SCD yogurt every morning and take digestive enzyme with meal, but our diet is far off from SCD since I have added so much SCD illegal foods anymore. We still do not many SCD illegal foods, but organic fruits and veggies, free range meat and eggs, bone broth to list the super foods. We also avoid processed foods, foods that include words that I can't pronounce synthetic food colors, etc.

Books I recommend:

"The Yeast Connection" by William Crook--some of the info is out dated, but he is the pioneer on connecting yeast to diseases. It will give you a good over look on what yeast to your health.

"Body Ecology Diet" by Donna Gates--a new generation of Yeast Connection.

“Breaking the Vicious Cycle” by Elaine Gottschall. Check the web site www.pecanbread.com and www.enzymestuff.com

Guide to Better Bowl Care" by Barnard Jensen is highly recommended to better understand relation between disease and colon. He has other books that deepen the understanding of colon care.

"Digestive Wellness" or "Digestive Wellness for Children" by Elizabeth Lipski will help you understand how digestive system is important for good immune system.

As my last comment, there is no drug to correct GI disorders or yeast, but choosing what you eat based on your digestive disorder. It is a long road, if not a life long battle, but there is a way. There is no one good diet or food, but combination of different methods. There isn't many 'specialist' to guide you with disease like Leaky Gut, yeast, disbiosis, IBD or other gut related disease. People I met on the net has been the best support I've had to figure my ways out. I hope we can continue to support each other to a better health.

Greencat

[aidansmama]

My son is avoiding wheat/gluten,dairy/caisen/sugar and a few other things. He already can't have eggs or lemon because he is allergic. He takes probiotics,clo,and unda compound drops. Since we have started this he has had no excema at all and no poop issues or belly aches.

[Li27]

All Safe while Breastfeeding?

Hello,
This thread is great - my gut healing so far has just involved elimination of all my intolerant foods as well as probiotics. I want to start more of the different things people have listed, but I'm wondering........

There seems to be common methods being listed e.g. vit c, fish oils, glutamine........ is there anything that is NOT safe to do during breastfeeding? Anyone know? I would assume I have to be cautious about the type of fish oils due to metals, but anything else a concern?

Thanks!
Liana

[ellasmama2007]

i forgot, i take co-enzyme q10 also

eta: twinlabs clo is free of heavy metals and all these supps are safe for bf

[AquariusHome]

Wow! Great responses mamas! You all inspired me to take the plunge and head over to a health food store to get started. I bought:

1. A Calcium/ Magnesium chewable from Twinlabs.

2. A digestive enzyme made from Papaya and with others including Bromalain. I take it with meals but notice I'm getting gas pains about an hour later - is this to be expected?

3. An Omega 3, 6, and 9 oil - lemon zest flavor. Its pretty yummy actually.

4. A mulitvitamin from Twinlabs. But I realized after the fact it has soy lecithen in it. Don't know how I missed that. I had already taken one before I realized my error but dd didn't seem to react. Any chance soy lecithen once a day in a multi-vit is okay?

5. A probiotic that said "non-dairy", but in a separate area that listed allergen info it did not say milk free along with all the others. So now I'm thinking it is actually milk based. I need to check but luckily I haven't opened it so I can return it if needed.

6. I plan to return to get a Brewer's yeast with fiber drink the saleslady recommended (they were out). We're trialling wheat today. If its a no-go on wheat can I still use Brewer's yeast? I don't know what brewer's yeast is or how its different from other yeast.

7. She also recommended a Rice-based protein drink to help with weight gain, or at least hopefully stop weight loss.

So that's where we are, in addition to being Top 8 + oats and coffee free. Last night I also bought 2 allergy cookbooks so I can break out of my rut of foods I'm eating these days :

[nalo]

Li27 - re: heavy metals. Any reputable brand of CLO has been third party tested and is safe. You can just read the label or webiste or call the company to ask about their 3rd party testing and safety of their oil.

Originally Posted by LaurieG

Wow! Great responses mamas! You all inspired me to take the plunge and head over to a health food store to get started. I bought:

1. A Calcium/ Magnesium chewable from Twinlabs.

2. A digestive enzyme made from Papaya and with others including Bromalain. I take it with meals but notice I'm getting gas pains about an hour later - is this to be expected?

3. An Omega 3, 6, and 9 oil - lemon zest flavor. Its pretty yummy actually.

4. A mulitvitamin from Twinlabs. But I realized after the fact it has soy lecithen in it. Don't know how I missed that. I had already taken one before I realized my error but dd didn't seem to react. Any chance soy lecithen once a day in a multi-vit is okay?

5. A probiotic that said "non-dairy", but in a separate area that listed allergen info it did not say milk free along with all the others. So now I'm thinking it is actually milk based. I need to check but luckily I haven't opened it so I can return it if needed.

6. I plan to return to get a Brewer's yeast with fiber drink the saleslady recommended (they were out). We're trialling wheat today. If its a no-go on wheat can I still use Brewer's yeast? I don't know what brewer's yeast is or how its different from other yeast.

7. She also recommended a Rice-based protein drink to help with weight gain, or at least hopefully stop weight loss.

So that's where we are, in addition to being Top 8 + oats and coffee free. Last night I also bought 2 allergy cookbooks so I can break out of my rut of foods I'm eating these days :

Enzyme....gas - This is to be expected. It should not last longer than a few days or week at the longest. If you still have pain after a week you'll need to try a new brand. However, I do recommend one without bromalain because any citrus can be counter productive to gut healing and this is made from pineapple.

The oil you list is plenty healthy but it is not CLO - which is what has specific benefits for gut healing. I would buy CLO and let your hubby (sorry - making assumption here) take the regular omega oil so it doesn't go to waste. Also, double check that there is no soy in the oil you bought. Nordic Naturals is one that uses soy derived vit E.

Soy lecithin - fine for many people. bad for many people. if you are doing an ED right now with soy cut out you should not consume soy lecithin either which is in so many foods. once you get to baseline you can trial lecithin on its own and hopefully it will be fine. some people are just intollerant to the soy protein but can do lecithin and/or soy oil. you just have to trial them all.

For some insane reason, probiotics can say "dairy free" even if they are in a lactose base. You need to triple check what you're taking.

Rice-based protein drink. Another thing to triple check on ingredients, depending on what you currently have cut out. Products like these are likely to have ingredients derived from "bad" foods.


Our gut healing routine -

DD: CLO, probiotics, quercetin, enzymes for 2 weeks
Me: CLO, probiotics, DGL (licorice) but not anymore
There's probably more but I can't think of anything at the moment.

[AquariusHome]

DoulaMary - thanks for your thoughts. I called the company re:the Omega swirl. CLO was the only listed source but I wanted to be sure and they verified that CLO is the source for the omega's and also that none of the ingredients are soy derived so it sounds like that one is okay.

RE: bromalain - your point makes me wonder how many of you are doing other dietary restrictions in addition to eliminating foods that cause reactions. For example, I drink orange juice every day. Maybe I should be avoiding citrus?

I'm thinking for dd I should start a probiotic and bone broth. And maybe CLO though for some reason my gut response to that one is "not a good idea" - not sure what my concerns are with it so I need to sit with that one a bit.

[nalo]

Originally Posted by LaurieG

DoulaMary - thanks for your thoughts. I called the company re:the Omega swirl. CLO was the only listed source but I wanted to be sure and they verified that CLO is the source for the omega's and also that none of the ingredients are soy derived so it sounds like that one is okay.

RE: bromalain - your point makes me wonder how many of you are doing other dietary restrictions in addition to eliminating foods that cause reactions. For example, I drink orange juice every day. Maybe I should be avoiding citrus?

I'm thinking for dd I should start a probiotic and bone broth. And maybe CLO though for some reason my gut response to that one is "not a good idea" - not sure what my concerns are with it so I need to sit with that one a bit.

I cut out various foods that were not a specific problem to aid in gut healing. So far, dairy is the only known problem for DD but I had TONS of foods out for quite a while. Citrus is one I would cut out all together. I would also cut out gluten all together because it really helps speed gut healing. Good plan to get DD on probiotics and bone broth. CLO is great for any age but don't do anything you are not comfortable with yet. At least you will be taking it for a start. Good to hear the one you found really is CLO and soy free.

[singingmama06]

Our gut healing approach has definitely evolved as I've become more educated and we've been dealing with it for most of his two years, but I'm happy to say SOMEthing is really working because DS is completely eczema free (has been for a month now) and is now eating several foods that he tested highly sensitive to on the IgG test. (Whew, that was a really long sentence.)

Here's what we're doing (I'm still bfing):

CLO- both of us

Gluten and Sugar avoidance-both completely for two months- now allow little

Bubbies Saurkraut- me, a couple of bites with meals (really believe in this!)

Probiotics- MegaFlora by MegaFood- mostly DS and really noticed a difference almost immediately in his skin. Within 3 days, he was totally clear after five months of it being chronic (we've tried 6 diff kinds)

Digestive Enzymes- have slacked on this a bit though and nothing's changed

S. Boulardii- just started so we'll have to see. Know DS has/had yeast overgrowth and this is supposed to help keep bad yeast at bay
Bone Broth- after doing this for a few months I got really over the time and mess it can be, so I'm doing homemade chicken soup instead-I hope we're still getting SOME benefits

I'm also drinking a super green drink most days, which also contains enzymes and probiotics

[tarajean56]

This thread has also inspired me to finally hunker down and do this.

A little background: DS (21 months, not BF) has a milk intolerance. He is having some slight skin problems, has dark circles under eyes and I just have a feeling there is something else there besides the dairy. He's been cow's milk free for over 6 months. I have tons of skin issues (excema, keratosis pilaris, dishydrosis) that are getting out of control. My sister has eliminated dairy and gluten/wheat with great results. DD (3 months) is EBF with no issues except green poop.

So our plan starting Monday is:

Dairy free
Gluten/Wheat free
CLO for me and DS (how much do I give to DS, 25 lbs.?)
Probiotic for me and DS (again, how much for DS?)
Bone broth for me and DS

That's all I can manage right now. I feel like such a wuss for saying this because so many of you are dealing with so much more - but I'm having a really emotional time about making this change. It says a lot to me about the role of food in my life, and I think this change will be good for many reasons.

[changingseasons]

Originally Posted by tarajean56

That's all I can manage right now. I feel like such a wuss for saying this because so many of you are dealing with so much more - but I'm having a really emotional time about making this change. It says a lot to me about the role of food in my life, and I think this change will be good for many reasons.

I totally understand. I started out just removing dairy, and it was incredibly hard for me. I agree that for me too it was probably a good change... now I see my food in a whole different way. But it was very hard in the beginning!!

[singingmama06]

TaraJean56: The CLO I give Tyler is Carlson for Kids and the dosage is 1/2 tsp/day. It's lemon flavored, but I till mix it in with his water/juice.

Probiotics come in kids formulas with dosages, but the one we found that has been working so good for us is in a capsule, so I just empty that into his drink as well and for him, I was doing three capsules a day, but am down to two. Whatever you do, work your way up, so the body can adjust to it.