Dr. Josh Axe, DNM, DC, CNS, author of Eat Dirt, is interviewed on the Anxiety Summit by host of the Anxiety Summit, Trudy Scott, Food Mood Expert and Nutritionist, author of The Antianxiety Food Solution.
Anxiety: The Stressed and Toxic Gut
- An overview of leaky gut, the causes and the 5 gut types
- Symptoms of the stressed gut and how it impacts the adrenals
- Leaky gut and glutamine as a fuel source
- Healing licorice root, rhodiola and ashwaganda
- How frankincense fights inflammation and protects the tight junctions of the gut
- Signs of a toxic gut, soil-based organisms and what we can learn from the Yanomami tribe
Here are some gems from our interview:
So imagine your intestines as a net or your gut lining is a net and it’s sort of the barrier in between your intestines and blood stream. If that little net, if those little holes get tears in them then things that are too large start passing into your bloodstream such as undigested food particles such as gluten, toxins, bad bacteria. When those get into the bloodstream that sets off an immune response in the body and really causes system wide inflammation. And just to let you know, I want to go over some of the biggest warning signs that someone has leaky gut, which you’ll see these were often times anxiety and toxicity and other issues, but bloating and gas are big warning signs that you have leaky gut. Any type of food sensitivity, if you don’t tolerate certain foods like gluten that probably means you have leaky gut. Thyroid conditions such as Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, adrenal fatigue, joint pain, headaches, skin issues like rosacea, acne, eczema, psoriasis, digestive problems of any sort. And then even especially depression and anxiety, any of these issues, bipolar, those are all warning signs that somebody has leaky gut.
We discuss glutamine for healing a leaky gut and Dr. Axe mentioned his blog on the topic: L-Glutamine Benefits Leaky Gut & Metabolism
L-glutamine is the most abundant amino acid in the bloodstream and it makes up 30-35 percent of the amino acid nitrogen in your blood. It’s actually known as a conditionally essential amino acid because your body uses it in large amounts.
The most common uses of glutamine powder were to meet the following goals: to lose weight fast, burn fat and build muscle. And while that remains the case, science is now showing that L-glutamine benefits are abundant – and that this amino acid is especially helpful in treating leaky gut and improving your overall health.
We talk about the benefits of licorice root for both the gut and the adrenals:
Licorice root is another one of those herbs that’s used in Chinese medicine and it’s very effective for many things, with studies showing it helps the stomach, ulcers specifically. Other studies show that it actually helps with soothing the intestinal tract. But for the most part it’s also used as an adaptogenic herb. Many of us have heard of adaptogens such as ashwaganda, rhodiola, ginseng, certain mushrooms such as cordyceps have been labeled adaptogenic, well licorice root works in the same way. It really helps your body better adapt and deal with stress. We know stress can be very, very hard on the intestines as well as the stomach. It can be very hard on your digestive system. So licorice root is pretty amazing. It’s an herb that really helps in sort of soothing inflammation, but it also works as an adaptogen to lower stress levels, which is harming the gut. So really as a two pronged approach and why it’s so effective at both helping the digestive system as well as supporting the adrenal glands, thyroid and overall hormones.
Here are some links to some research:
The emerging links between our gut microbiome and the central nervous system (CNS) are regarded as a paradigm shift in neuroscience with possible implications for not only understanding the pathophysiology of stress-related psychiatric disorders, but also their treatment.
- Anti-inflammatory effect of roasted licorice extracts on lipopolysaccharide-induced inflammatory responses in murine macrophages.
- Boswellia serrata Preserves Intestinal Epithelial Barrier from Oxidative and Inflammatory Damage
Dr. Josh Axe is author of a new book called Eat Dirt: Why Leaky Gut May Be the Root Cause of Your Health Problems and 5 Surprising Steps to Cure It
Here is the link to a gift from Josh Axe The King’s Medicine Cabinet eBook: A complete guide on essential oils and their history, uses, cures, and recipes that will transform your health forever!
And his Eat Dirt online gut quiz [disabling this until I hear back from them]
If you are not already registered for the Anxiety Summit you can get live access to the speakers of the day here: www.theAnxietySummit.com
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You can find your purchasing options here.: Anxiety Summit Season 1, Anxiety Summit Season 2, Anxiety Summit Season 3, and Anxiety Summit Season 4.