My own health and life turned around after taking 2 actions to heal my gut - even though I had NO IDEA that the food I ate was causing issues OR the health of my gut had anything to do with ankylosing spondylitis (autoimmune condition in spine).
I was desperate to get better and get my life back - things I loved like surfing and running could only happen when my body was well and netball and lacrosse (my life) were almost 100% no go areas - that I was willing to do anything.
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The 2 steps I took :
1. Removed gluten from my diet (this was 2012 & gluten was only known as something that coeliacs should avoid)
2. Started making chicken broth and drinking it everyday (there was none to buy!)
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So what happened?
Almost immediately, inflammation I never realised existed in the first place fell off my body. Puffiness from my face and stomach disappeared. In fact, I had always wondered why my stomach was never flat and now I knew why!
Most importantly, my mobility and pain in my spine improved and unexpectedly my 3pm daily energy slump disappeared.
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I then started to notice foods that caused me issues - my osteopath could just look at me and notice I’d eaten something that I disagreed with. Previously, I didn’t think I reacted to anything. Most likely was reacting to the same foods, but as I was eating it on the daily, I was constantly in an inflamed state so I didn’t even notice! Plus the immune system was likely exhausted after every day exposure to foods that were stressing my out.
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But why did these two changes make such a difference?
Ankylosing spondylitis is an autoimmune condition, a disease of the immune system. The immune system which protects us against everyday invaders, is malfunctioning and in short, is hyper functioning and mounting an approach against your own body., This can happen anywhere in the body and in my case it was my spine. This attack against my spine, was not only degrading my spine but creating lots of inflammation both in and around my spine and also systemically (all over the body!).
The conventional approach in such a condition, is to suppress the immune system to stop this inflammation. I have tried this for many years with not much success and side effects. The approach that I was now taking, was asking why does this inflammation exist in the first place?
The conventional approach for an autoimmune disease condition like ankylosing spondylitis, is to suppress the immune system to stop the inflammation. The approach that I was now taking, was asking why does this inflammation exist in the first place?
The gut lining should selectively let particles into our bloodstream and our immune system monitors that the right things (not invaders) actually cross the lining. This is the first time, food and other substances from the body get the opportunity to cross into the body, hence the large immune system presence.
The problem is, due to modern diet and lifestyles, in many people this lining is actually damaged. This means particles cross the gut lining that are not meant to and the immune system recognises these, mounts an attack to protect the body, and this causes inflammation. This is called leaky gut or intestinal permeability and in fact, everyone tested with an autoimmune disease, leaky gut has been present!
My osteopath, had the most amazing foresight, and both changes he recommended were centred around healing my gut lining. After all - this is where the majority of the immune system sits, so unless we work on the immune system from this angle, it will be hard to improve.
So what exactly do gluten and chicken broth have to do with the gut?
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1. Gluten - this is a protein that has been shown to pull apart the cells lining the gut which can lead to leaky gut and as mentioned above a big issue in those with autoimmunity). Avoiding it gave my gut an opportunity to start healing and stopped the inflammatory reaction I was having every time I ate it.
2. Chicken broth - this helps heal the gut as it contains lots of nourishing amino acids. It also contains minerals (cofactors for enzyme reactions in your body) which are commonly depleted in modern life. In healing the gut, you protect the immune system and reduce the inflammatory load (80% of our immune system is in our gut to protect the body from external invaders) and you are enabling increased nutrient absorption too.
What would have happened if I hadn’t made these changes?
I cannot predict, but likely my condition would have got worse and also as the inflammation levels would have remained raised in my body, I would have the propensity to have developed many more chronic diseases including other autoimmune diseases. Plus I would have remained in pain unable to enjoy my life.
A leaky gut and inflammation extremely stressful for our bodies and as you have seen causes whole body impacts - not just our digestive tract. Bloating, cramps, food sensitivities, fatigue, joint pain, brain fog and more.
In addition, to facing lots of stress it also means our body is more than likely not getting the valuable nutrients it needs. We often forget that nutrients make every single cell in our body and is the building block for proper functioning!
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So SHOULD everyone drink chicken broth and remove gluten?⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
If you have any autoimmune disease consideration of your gut health is essential! If you don’t have an autoimmune disease (or another immune condition), it is still very important to consider for long term health. Sometimes you don’t realise that you are not functioning at 100% or symptoms that could be happening a long way from your gut are actually due to gut dysfunction.
If you have decided to go on a journey to heal your gut, I would recommend getting someone to support you. They can take the weight off your shoulders as to what to do, whilst you put the actions in place.
I offer one-on-one consults both online and in Sydney. See the Work with Me page for more information. Alternatively, I am also running a 3 week ‘Love Your Gut' course in Sydney CBD starting on 19th November at 7pm. Click here for more information. If you would like to have this online please send me an email.
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Not a day goes buy when I am not grateful for meeting my osteopath and having faith in his recommendations. At that time I had no idea about how my spine and gut health were anywhere near related but I just went with it.
Could it have the same impact on you?