If you don’t already know, let me explain exactly what dysbiosis is. Your digestive tract is host to billions and billions of bacteria, yeast, fungus, etc; both good and bad. For a healthy gut, it is all about balance. A healthy gut contains a balance of both good and bad bacteria, of bacteria to yeast, and so forth. When that balance exists, then each does its part to keep the others in check.

This healthy balance is somewhere on the order of 80% beneficial bacteria to 20% harmful bacteria. And typically there are the majority of bacteria to the minority of yeast and fungus.

But for many reasons, this balance can be thrown off. In our society, I can say with certainty that the two most common reasons are because of the Standard American Diet (SAD) full of processed food and sugar and the overuse of antibiotics.

SAD Diet

You see, the beneficial bacteria feed on many of the whole food fiber sources in your diet like inulin (plant or vegetable fiber). The harmful bacteria however feed on sugar. So with poor dietary choices, which is most often the case, consisting of few vegetables and an abundance of sugar it is easy to see how the harmful bacteria take charge. This results in a reversal of roles in the gut where the harmful bacteria make up the 80% and the beneficial bacteria a mere 20%. This is one way dysbiosis develops and can easily lead to Leaky Gut Syndrome.

Antibiotics

I think you would agree that antibiotics are very effective at killing bacteria that cause infection. But they are also just as effective at killing beneficial bacteria. When you use antibiotics you are literally wiping the slate clean in your gut. This leaves the re-growth of bacteria up to a rat race. Take into account the SAD diet and the lack of natural sources of beneficial bacteria in your diet and all odds are in favor of the harmful bacteria and yeast. This is why antibiotics are a major cause of leaky gut.

The Great Debate

There are many health practitioners who claim that correcting dysbiosis is as simple as adding a probiotic (beneficial bacteria) supplement to your daily regime. This would be true if the harmful bacteria and yeast were not overgrown. But that is rarely if ever the case, especially when leaky gut is present.

But still, many of the health practitioners do just that. They give you a bottle of probiotic pills and send you on your merry way. You jump with joy as you take them and begin to see signs of relief. You may even claim that your practitioner is a miracle worker. But what happens when you stop taking them? That’s right. Your problems come right back. So you might start another round of probiotics. This cycle continues and continues until you decide to either stick with probiotics permanently or you figure out that there is more going on inside your gut than you might realize.

The problem is that all of those harmful bacteria, yeast, and fungi are still there and still holding strong. The probiotic supplements are only providing you temporary relief but they still don’t have ability to take back control of your dysbiosis or leaky gut.

If you want true results, then you have to first correct the root of the problem. You have to do your part by following a proper leaky gut diet to help starve those harmful bacteria to give your probiotics a fighting chance at survival.

If you want to truly correct your dysbiosis, then you must first create an inhabitable environment for the beneficial bacteria to flourish.

In health and happiness,

Karen Brimeyer
Author of the Leaky Gut Cure

Maybe you are like me. I never had allergies of any kind growing up. Come to think of it, I don’t remember anyone having them. But today, it seems like allergies plague almost everyone. You might think this is just a coincidence but I have to tell you that it is not.

It wasn’t until I had developed leaky gut that I even started to notice the development of seasonal allergies. I would get a cough, runny nose, and watery eyes during the change of seasons. I never thought to question why because these symptoms were so common that they were generally accepted as no big deal. And symptoms that aren’t considered a major health risk tend to get swept under the rug. But for me, things only went downhill from there. I started experiencing digestive problems along with skin problems like eczema. I had no idea that this was all related to my gut and it wasn’t until I addressed the underlying problem that the reality of it really hit home. As soon I healed my gut, my allergies immediately disappeared and I haven’t dealt with them since.

The Leaky Gut Seasonal Allergy Link

When you suffer from increased intestinal permeability, undigested food particles, pathogens, toxins, and other harmful substances are able to actually pass through your intestinal lining and directly enter the bloodstream. All of these substances are considered foreign invaders to the body which prompts your immune system to respond and combat the invaders. The big problem with this is that it is occurring continuously day and night without end.

Initially, your immune system does its job and fights off the foreign invaders. But after battling for a long time without rest, it quickly becomes overstressed and overactive. It is this over-activity of the immune system that prompts it to erratically react to anything it comes into contact with. This includes all of the pollen, mold, and other allergens that are always in the air. It is because your immune system is too busy defending you from your own leaky gut that it doesn’t have the time or ability to properly deal with these allergens. So you are left with seasonal allergies by reacting to any foreign airborne particles that you come into contact with.

All of these common airborne allergens have always existed and will always exist. So the days of blaming these allergens as the problem are over. It has little to nothing to do with them and everything to do with your gut health.

Seasonal allergies may not be a life threatening symptom but they are definitely trying to get your attention for a reason. They are really a way of your body telling you that something is not quite right. It’s time to start listening to these signs and use them to paint the bigger picture of your health. If you continue to ignore them or mask them with the use of allergy medications then your body will find another way to get your attention. And the next time it does, it will be with more extreme symptoms that won’t be as easy to dismiss. Do yourself a favor and get to the root of the problem by addressing your leaky gut.

In health and happiness,

Karen Brimeyer
Author of the Leaky Gut Cure