When ones diet consists of C.R.A.P. (caffeine, refined sugar, alcohol and processed foods), this wreaks havoc on your gastrointestinal system.  Processed foods are filled with chemical additives, colorings, preservatives and emulsifiers.  You may not even know you’re eating such items because the FDA (Food & Drug Administration) does not require manufactures to include additives on the labels of foods that are exempt, such as ketchup.  Instead of a specific list of what has been added you may see something general such as “artificially flavored”.

Today, there are so many foods that are highly processed that even your own gastrointestinal system can’t recognize the items as food.  Your immune systems job is to react to these chemicals and remove them from the body with the help of the GI (gastrointestinal) system.  Processed foods and sugar leads the body to a stress response.  When this stress response takes place digestion can be slowed down to the point of constipation and toxic bowel.

Constipation and toxic bowel are by no means normal.  Did you know that you should eliminate after each meal you eat?  Yes, you should be going to the bathroom up to 2-3 times per day and the stools should be formed.  They should not be soft or difficult to pass, they should not float or break apart and you should not fluctuate between constipation and diarrhea.  The color of the stool should be brown to dark brown.  If you are passing yellow, green or red stool go see your doctor immediately.  (Note your stool may be red after eating beets.)

As you just read having a poor diet over time leads to disturbances in the GI system and this poor diet overtime can lead to leaky gut syndrome. Leaky gut syndrome is when there is separation of tight junctions between the cells of the gut wall.  The separation of these junctions happens as a result of stress, food intolerance and a poor diet.  When these junctions begin to separate, undigested or partially digested food particles cross the gut wall and as a result they land in joint tissues, organ tissues, nerve tissues and anywhere else via the micro-circulatory system causing inflammation and over time causing chronic pain and possibly an auto-immune disease.

One important point I want all of you to understand is that food particles landing in joint, organ and nerve tissues doesn’t exactly happen immediately.  As I have mentioned in previous newsletters our bodies strive for balance.  Normally, your first line of defense is though sIgA (secretory IgA).  SIgA is a protective mucous that lines the gastrointestinal tract and lungs. When the invaders (C.R.A.P.) enter the GI system its sIgA’s job to protect.  Unfortunately though over time sIgA begins to loose the battle (amount of sIgA depletes) and the invaders win (more processed food and more stress).  Then, before you know it, you’re suffering from inflammation in your joints, organ and/or nerve tissues and what are you then prescribed?

 Anti-inflammatory drugs.

Anti-inflammatory drugs such as cortisone are immuno-suppressants, meaning they shut down the immune system.  In addition anti-inflammatory drugs often produce gastrointestinal inflammation as a side effect and increases inflammation in the gut further leading to additional symptoms and disease. Because pain killers block the body’s signs that something is wrong, further tissue degeneration takes place leading us to possibly experience cancer and autoimmune diseases such as Rheumatoid arthritis, Lupus and or Multiple Sclerosis, not to mention other forms of disease too.  Therefore readers, if any of you are experiencing any type of pain that is not getting better and becoming more chronic I encourage you to begin looking deeper into your lifestyle and contributing factors.