4Rs of Digestive Health

Written by Andrea Maxim, Naturopathic Doctor

Digestive Health

No matter what the reason for your digestive upset the treatment comes down to 4 simple steps: Remove, Repair, Reinoculate and Reintroduce.

Digestive Health: Remove

We cannot even start to heal the gut without removing the stressors that are harming the digestive tract. These include underlying infections (yeast, bacteria or parasites), stress, environmental toxins and most importantly food sensitivities. These must be removed immedately before the next phase can start.

12 SIMPLE SNACKS RECIPES BELOW

Digestive Health: Repair

Now comes the best part: Flooding the body with nutrients that will heal the mucosal lining as quickly as possible. These nutrients include, but are not limited to, L-glutamine, fish oil, vitamin D and my favourite medical food powder, UltraInflammX from Metagenics.

Digestive Health: Reinoculate

Once the digestive tract is healed, then we can start layering on the probiotics and other immune supporters. This layer will act as your first line of defense against future pathogens or food sensitivites.

Digestive Health: Reintroduce

Once the digestive tract is healed and immune system in place, we can start to reintroduce possible food allergens (gluten, cow dairy, eggs) one meal at a time to see if the body will react. My favourite thing to do is introduce “monomeals” which is one food group at a time 4 hours apart. 98% of people will react to a food they are sensitive to within the first 4 hours. The other 2% may take up to 3 days to notice a reaction. Read HERE for more information.

If your digestive tract needs a makeover, contact me to MAXIMize your digestive health TODAY! Please also watch the video above to learn more about how you can MAXIMize your Digestion and MAXIMize your Health!