You cannot heal in a toxic environment

Have you been around the block a few times when it comes to your gut health?

Maybe you roll your eyes as you scroll through Instagram as the one thousandth influencer tries to sell you on the next best supplement for balancing the gut microbiome or the ultimate foods to eliminate to beat the bloat. 

You’ve seen countless providers over the years trying to find relief. Your first primary physician didn’t believe you so you found another, and then he sent you to the GI specialist, who just wanted to run a few scans, and when nothing crazy showed up on the imaging they told you it’s just IBS. You thought that was vague and ridiculous, and you still didn’t feel better, so you sought out a second opinion.

The next specialist even ordered a stool test, but you didn’t know that the standard stool tests only check for a handful of really major issues and that they don’t even compare to a functional gut stool test. All you know is that the second specialist told you that there was nothing wrong with your test, and therefore nothing could possibly be wrong with your gut.

You leave with a prescription for an antibiotic–just to be safe–and are told to take Immodium if the diarrhea continues. No dietary advice. No follow up. 

You can’t travel without starving yourself to make sure you don’t have any surprises. You plan your day’s activities around your bathroom stops. You can only exercise certain times of the day and only on an empty stomach, or else you could risk an accident.

So you are determined to find alternative therapies. You spend countless hours on the computer reading and researching, but it seems like everything you read just contradicts itself. You’ve tried all the popular probiotics. Your neighbor tells you she’s had great success healing her gut with this new network marketing brand and you try it, since the drawer full of supplements you bought off of Amazon didn’t seem to do you any good. But alas, you waste another couple hundred bucks chasing after a promise that nobody seems to be able to deliver. You cut out so many foods you feel like all that’s left is broccoli and chicken, and you become the brunt of the joke at the holiday get-togethers for your “everything-free ice chip diet.”

You’re frustrated because it seems no one understands what you’re going through. Perhaps you’re really the only person in the world who is suffering with this quite like you. You feel like you’re running out of options.

Sound familiar?

Let me offer you a different perspective.

You see, the gut microbiome refers to the thousands of microorganisms that live in the gastrointestinal tract, which is home to anywhere from 500-1000 different species of bacteria, archea, fungi, and viruses. We cannot possibly just pop a probiotic supplement and “balance” the entire gut microbiome, although some people might try to tell you otherwise.

When something goes wrong in the body, it alters the body’s terrain, effectively disturbing these bugs in their home. When this happens, these otherwise unnoticeable bugs can get aggravated and pleomorph, or change into a more harmful version of themselves in retaliation. Think about poking a sleeping bear with a stick until he growls. When the gut microbiota are living in harmony inside of us, they can be really beneficial for our health, but if anything comes along to disturb their environment, they are suddenly capable of setting off a cascade of health issues throughout the body.

What could alter the body’s terrain? Toxins. Our modern world is full of them, and unless you are actively avoiding them and are intentional about detoxifying, they are likely building up in your system and contributing to a toxic terrain. The liver is our primary detoxification organ, but it is often working on overdrive just to try to maintain homeostasis. When your body’s natural elimination routes become clogged or sluggish, these toxins get shunted into the bloodstream and stored in various organs and tissues throughout the body. 

Things like chemicals in our personal care and cleaning products, the foods and beverages we consume, the water we drink, and the plastics that touch much of our food supply every day. We are exposed to heavy metals like mercury, aluminum, arsenic, and lead in our dental fillings, vaccines, fish, rice and other foods, and some paints and other consumer products. Radioactive elements have been found in drinking water, and EMFs are emitted from our Bluetooth devices, cellphones, laptops, microwaves, televisions, WiFi, and more. Because EMFs disrupt how our bodies are “wired,” they effectively alter the body’s environment and open it up for disease. EMFs change our chemical balance, damage our enzymes, and interfere with cell division.

All of these things add up to burden the immune system and prevent healing. These toxins are what “poke the bear” and cause the otherwise harmless bugs to change shape and cause dysfunction. This is when you start to experience signs and symptoms. Yes, your bowel is “irritable” alright. But unless you address this irritability from the root cause, you’re just going to keep spinning your wheels.

You cannot heal in a toxic environment.

However, when you have the right tools and the right process to follow, you can absolutely heal your gut and get your life back. My clients and students are doing it all the time.

Let me be your guide.

If you haven’t taken my Detox Detective Quiz, I’d love for you to start there. Once you get your results, I’ll also email you personalized recommendations for your next steps in how to address your particular areas of concern. It’s just 7 questions, and I guarantee you that your doctor has never asked any of them!