3 foods that are absolutely incredible for your gut health.
If your gut is not doing so well, manifesting symptoms such as fatigue, heavy limbs, sweating on mild exertion, sugar cravings, fluid retention with loose stools and a squelchy belly with lots of noise, you might have the TCM diagnosis of Spleen Qi Deficiency with Damp.
In 20 years of clinical experience I have met many people who have this condition who are resistant to changing their diet and just keep smashing the sugar, dairy, yeast and deep fried gunk that makes their condition worse and stops anyone from being able to assist their bodies to heal.
Ask yourself….
AM I SELF-SABOTAGING???
Refusing to make changes that will benefit you in the long term is a self-defeating survival mechanism that feeds the bacteria beast in the gastrointestinal tract and helps to keep the aggressive bacteria alive and flourishing. And also helps it maintain control of your gut-brain.
In terms of diet therapy, integrative practitioners may tell you that you need to up your malic acid intake.
What is Malic Acid?
Malic acid is an acid found naturally in food sources like green veggies, watermelon and in high concentration in apple cider vinegar.
It helps your body by neutralizing the pH in your gastrointestinal system so that aggressive inflammatory bacteria cannot grow because their optimum environment has changed.
Including foods with high levels of malic acid in your diet for 2 weeks will trigger what is referred to as “Bacterial die-off”, during which time our bodies expel the old, aggressive bacteria and begin to heal the gut from the onslaught of the old bacteria.
Bacterial die-off symptoms
It’s common to experience these as your body starts to clean itself out from the overgrowth of aggressive yeasts fed by sugar, dairy and grease.
- Rotting taste in the mouth
- Sweating more, extra stinky body odor
- Gurgling, flatulence, borborygmus
- Hardcore sugar and yeast cravings
- Loose or sticky bowel movements
It’s important that you just let these happen and ride them out for the 2-3 days that you experience them because they are a necessary part of the clearing process.
Things to avoid – the BIG 4
- Dairy including cheese and yoghurt
- Deep fried or extra greasy food
- Yeast of any description including beer and bubbly
- Refined sugar in anything but fruit or honey
If you want some treatment and someone to coach you through this process, you can book an appointment in Daylesford or Ballarat, or you can contact me to book a telehealth diet therapy and herbal medicine consultation. Yes, I even do international consults.
Cheers, Dr Bec (TCM)
Central Highlands Chinese Medicine 