How to Heal Your Gut: A Complete Guide

Waiting on the Lord

In this article we will review all of the priorities for healing your digestive center. In the words of the famous Dr. Bernard Jensen, Father of Colonics: “Death begins in the colon.” What this morbid quote also means is that life begins in the colon, too. This is why healing your center should be your first health priority. Use the following points along with your functional medicine doctor (or team) to develop a specific action plan that addresses your particular needs and your gut will thank you for many years to come.

My Gut Story

Colonoscopies are not fun, nor are they something to jump into unless you have serious cause — but did you know that I got a colonoscopy when I was just a few years old? Well, now you do. I later learned that my childhood gut issues were the result of many factors all intersecting into a perfect storm. I’m not allergic to dairy, but sometimes early casein exposure can trigger ear infections in small children.(1) This was probably the case with me, because I had lots of unexplained ear infections. These ear infections resulted in antibiotics, which decimated my gut as a child, and because I was also born C-section, that altogether lead to serious gut issues from the start of my journey.

Add this to the fact I was born with lower stomach acid and took antibiotics for various things throughout my life, and what you get is no surprise that SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth) and regularity issues were pretty common. Today my gut is doing much better, but it is an ongoing practice of discipline between eating right and keeping an intake of good, research-based products that can reduce inflammation and help promote a healthy microbiome.

Healing the gut is a complex process and it can sometimes be very nuanced. My goal with this article is to map out the basics and tools involved so that you can compose a plan that is relevant and effective. So the following are important pillars of gut health, in no particular order.

Get an idea of your stomach acid levels.

Most people have low stomach acid and that affects digestion and predisposes you for overgrowth of bacteria or fungi in the small intestine (SIBO/SIFO, etc.). The best way to learn your status is through a Heidelberg stomach acid test (see my own sample below), but if you can’t find anyone in your area or it’s too expensive there are other means, although they aren’t as accurate (like the baking soda test) and may be inconclusive. There is a theory that blood type associates with stomach acid levels, with A being the weakest and O being the strongest. Observe how you react after heavy amounts of protein and fat and notice what foods, if any, cause you upset.

In the above sample you can see a few important things. The green represents the pH being detected, with higher being alkaline and lower being acid. When I swallowed the pill it detected acidity, which is good and normal. But then comes the alkaline test, where you swallow some nasty bicarbonate fluid to challenge your stomach to re-acidify. As you can see it took about 33 minutes for the stomach to get back to a low pH. For someone that is no compromised in this area, the time should be about 15-20 minutes. Anything between 30-45 minutes and you have impaired digestion for whatever reason, whether it is genetic or nutritional or something else.

Another thing that is measured is the gastric emptying time, or gut motility. In my case either the pill was a little stuck or my stomach was pretty grouchy and slow that morning, as you can see I waited about another 30 minutes for the pill to move into the small intestine and begin rising in pH (since the small intestine is more alkaline). So between these three measures (starting pH, reacidification time and gastric emptying time) a Heidelberg test can look at several core factors of digestion and help you take proactive action.

There is a massive epidemic of misdiagnosed people who are told they have too much acid, and are put on cancer-inducing proton pump inhibitors, when in fact they have low stomach acid. The solution if you do have low stomach acid is to supplement betaine HCL as part of your heavy meals. Generally doses range around 500-750mg per pill and some may need just one while others may need a few. Take betaine HCL after you are done eating, not before.

As for improving reacidification time, the cause may be genetic or it may be nutritional. If you are already on a comprehensive nutritional plan, it is likely genetic. Gastric emptying time can be improved with gut motility supporters, like ginger. I have some organic ginger sitting around in a serving box and I take 1/4 TSP after my major meals to help keep the gut moving.