If you have digestive issues or you suffer from leaky gut, learn to love the word “L-Glutamine”.  It will be your saving grace.  L-Glutamine will be the knight in shining armor, the Holy Grail, if you will, to saving your gut!  This post is based off my own personal opinion, and backed by some fact checking.

L-Glutamine is the main ingredient in the Repairvite.  It is an amino acid that is literally the fuel your gut lining needs.  So if you’re gut is not working at 100%, you need to give it fuel – kind of like Popeye and his spinach.  The best way to have it absorbed and working to it’s full potential, is to deliver it directly!  That is why powder form is the best way to take it, as opposed to pill.  It is important that you drink this on an empty stomach, first thing in the morning, with water.  After you consume it, you wait a half hour or so, letting it do it’s job.  This will help your gut produce more of the mucosal lining that it needs, allowing the gut to heal.  Once the gut starts to get stronger, toxins can no longer entire your bloodstream because the “holes” in your gut have been repaired.  This helps keep the inflammation in your body down, thus, helping you to feel much, much better!  Also helps maintain your blood glucose levels, but if you’re diabetic, ask your doctor about taking it!  When you start taking L-Glutamine, it will give you more energy, and honestly, I can certainly say that’s true.

Interesting thing I found out – when we are exposed to large amounts of stress, our bodies need glutamine.  We burn up our natural reserve of glutamine in stressful situations.  When our bodies are broken down, glutamine is a much needed supplement.  It helps with concentration, focus, and intellectual ability!  They should probably start teaching this stuff in high school, or at least offering it in the lunchroom!

There are no known side effects to taking this supplement, although taking it long term can cause it to build up in your body.  This can be avoided by taking B12 supplements.  All in all, it sounds like a pretty fantastic thing!  I can definitely already tell a difference.

Let me know your stories!

“Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls.”

I have wonderful news!  I am feeling so much better.  My energy has increased, my desire to do things as increased, and my mood has been elevated.  I also noticed less hair falling out after the shower!  My itchy skin is going away, as well.  The main things are my energy levels and the fact that I can eat like a normal person.  I wish I knew it was as “simple” as this to get better.  I was feeling so depressed and sad about it.  My anxiety about going out to eat is going away too!  Thank you, Noah for the willingness to help me out!

I feel healthier, and my skin looks better than it has in the last year.  I was looking dull and gray.  I can’t express how happy and grateful I am to actually be feeling almost completely normal again.  Oh another thing I’ve noticed, I’m salivating more.  I felt dehydrated when all this stomach drama was happening, but now, not so much!

The weather is getting better here on the east coast and my garden is blooming!  I’m actually going to be planning a vacation soon, and that’s saying a lot.  I didn’t want to do or go anywhere over the past year and a half because of how I felt.

Bye-Bye leaky gut!

“Some things take time.
Stay patient and stay positive, things will get better.”

Let me start by saying, today is the best I’ve felt in almost 2 years.

I beat up my body for a long time.  I drank soda all day, every day, for pretty much almost 30 years of my life.  I stopped drinking soda on January 1, 2013 – never had it again.  I was constantly prescribed antibiotics as a kid, as well as an adult.  I had a high sugar, processed food diet was my normal everyday thing.  I was always stressing about something – my whole life.  Whether it was homework, cheerleading, bullies, friends, life in general – stress is something I’m learning how to manage much better, but for a long while I had no idea how to control it.  I also used to drink more than I should have.  I didn’t drink often, but when I did, I really went all out.  I am making a conscious effort to quit, at least until I feel 100% better.

I suffer from eczema, painful joints, and as of late, esophagitis.  With the esophagitis, the irritation could have easily come from the irritation from my intestines.  The trouble I had swallowing went away after taking the PPIs for a short period, so the esophagitis is on the way to being completely healed.  I had heartburn and indigestion.  I also suffered from h.pylori, and studies show that h.pylori will permeate your gut (aka leaky gut)!  I know that eventually, if I take these supplements, manage my stress, and eat the ideal diet, all of the issues I had will go away.

Going on 3 days of the supplements to heal my gut, and I already feel almost completely less bloated.  It doesn’t feel like the food sits in my stomach all day.  I feel “digested”, for lack of better terms.  HaHa  I have been doing a lot of reading, and I read that leaky gut can mess with your heart function and cause palpitations; I had those recently.  I also read that leaky gut can dry out your mouth and throat and this can lead to swallowing difficulties, which is funny, because I was saying that if I stayed hydrated, I felt the problem was less alarming.  Also, over the last 3 days, the cramps in my feet that I often get, are gone.  Coincidence, maybe?

Either way, I feel confident that I will get back to feeling great sooner than later.  My head is in a good place, and physically I feel better than I have in over a year!  I just have a little bit of anxiety about the swallowing, but I’ll get over that.  I’ve had NO real issues with the swallowing for a few weeks already.  The only way to know if I actually have leaky gut is through a series of blood tests, which I’m not getting.

So along with these magic supplements, I plan on working on my stress management.  My best friend of 30 years gave me a Reiki session for Christmas, I have yet to use it.  I meditate, but on a very basic level.  My garden provides tranquility everyday, along with reading (which I’m doing more of).  Either way, my treatments are working; I’m sticking with them.

“Your life is made of two dates and a dash.  Make the most of the dash.”
– Unknown –

Today I begin my journey into getting my stomach back into optimum health.  I have to restore what has been damaged.

Every morning as soon as I get up, I have to drink RepairVite.  It’s one scoop in 8 ounces of water – tastes a little bit earthy.  It’s not a lot to drink. so that’s the good part.  Then I wait a half an hour before I eat or drink anything.  Your intestinal health is EXTREMELY important!  When you eat, food goes into your intestines and that’s where absorption takes place.  I took this from Primohealthcoach.com, “The RepairVite™ (K60) program is an aggressive and complete regimen designed to break the vicious cycle of leaky gut.”  I have to follow a strict Paleo diet, this way I will allow the optimum situation for the best health I can obtain.  Basically, my intestines got porous, but this will fix that!  I’m excited about coming out on the other side of this with a restored and healed gut, feeling better, brighter, and stronger!

Then I take 2 SERENAIDs before every meal!  SERENAID is a bunch of digestive enzymes to help breakdown what you eat…to my understanding.  It is really great breaking down gluten and diary, so if you are intolerant, these are for you.  Honestly, I already feel a difference.

Once a day I take 1 Prescript Assist and 1 Therbiotic.  After 2 weeks, I will be taking 2 Prescript Assist and 1 Therbiotic until they are done.  Prescript Assist is a powerful probiotic, and you should increase the dose over time.  Too much at once could have some unwanted side effects.  The Prescript Assist is a probiotic with 29 strains of bacteria.  It helps to maintain a healthy ecology of gut flora and helps to stabilize the gut mucosal barrier.  Therbiotic is also helping to balance my gut flora.  This one has to be refrigerated.

I don’t know all the scientific reasons this stuff is working/going to work, but I will know in a few days how I personally feel.  I’ll keep you updated.  Really, these will restore my gut health, but also help with the acid reflux.  I’m hoping it just fixes everything!  This whole regimen is not cheap, but it’s worth every penny!

Maybe Dr. Noah can write up a post about all these goodies.

“The promise of vibrant health is a jewel worth every effort. It is not a right, but a set of choices – at times hard – but always rewarding.”

CVS has an app that you can put on your phone, and in this app you can see your Rx history (assuming you fill your prescriptions there).  Well, since December of 2014 (when I found out I had the h.pylori), I have taken antibiotics 6 times!  One of those was the Pylera pack for the h.pylori – and that was a doozy!  It’s no wonder my stomach is a complete mess.  While I did take probiotics, I was taking a basic one that helped, but didn’t fix anything.  I actually read that if you remember to take your probiotic with the h.pylori treatment, you have a better chance of getting rid of it all together!  Worked for me!

In a few more days I’ll start my regimen from Dr. Noah.  I’ve been doing some reading, and it’s really lifting my spirits.  Overall, I think the fact that I just feel more normal in general again is positive.  It’s crazy how you can slip down into a depression with things like this.

I’m gearing up to do everything right this time.  I need to be good to my body.  I’m going to eat really, really, really good!  No more rice, but more bone broth (pass along any good recipes you have)!  I’m going to work on stress management!  I’m going to get back into a workout routine!  Also, Manuka honey.  I’m not sure if I wrote about the wonders of Manuka honey yet, but I promise I WILL!  🙂

Each day I’ve been feeling a little better – have a way to go – one step at a time.

“Don’t try to overhaul your life overnight.  Instead, focus on making one small change at a time.  Overtime, those small changes will add up to a big transformation.”

I wish I always stayed as strict to Paleo as I was in the beginning – because maybe then, none of this would be happening.  I’m in a better place now that I was a few months ago, physically, mentally, and emotionally.

I stopped by to see Dr. Noah yesterday, and he gave me some different things to get my gut back to a good, healthy balance.  I’m going to start them once I go back for a follow up to my gastroenterologist on the 27th.  Either me, or Dr. Noah will blog about the supplements I will be taking and why.  I am really hopeful that this will get me back to where I want to be.  I feel that I will get my energy back, as well as my livelihood.  It’s been rough having this go on with my stomach.  Not many things were enjoyable for awhile.  I couldn’t even eat!

Looking forward to getting my gut healthy, and excited I get to share with you!  Perhaps my story will help others.

I also got my new book the other day!  Started reading it – so far, so good.  I know I have to work on my stress management!

Oh, before I forget…there’s a podcast you all need to check out.  It’s called “Beyond Your Wildest Genes”.  It’s on iTunes and Dr. Noah is part of it.  I got to listen to some of it yesterday (I was a little behind on the subscribing part…sorry, Noah!)  Okay, so that’s your homework…go SUBSCRIBE to the podcast and let me know what you think!!

“Every time you eat or drink,
you are either feeding disease or fighting it.”
– Heather Morgan, MS –

What you’re about to read is based solely on my own observations.

I think I may have cracked the code on menstrual cramps!

I suffer from very bad cramps – have most of my life.  I used to take Aleve like it was going out of style.  I would have to take it a day or two in advance, in order to try to prevent the cramps.  My doctor even prescribed me higher strength Aleve.  Looking back now, this probably has caused some of my adult stomach issues.  I haven’t taken Aleve since going Paleo almost 3 years ago.  Sometimes heat will lessen the pain, but not always.  My doctor also tried to put me on birth control – but I decided against it.

I was trying to figure out what were some good natural ways of eliminating cramps (or at the very least, just lessening them).  I know that when I was really strict Paleo I experienced no cramps.  While I was going through it, I attributed it to just shock.  I thought since I cut out all of the bad stuff and essentially stopped cold turkey on my emotional eating addiction, that my body went into shock and wasn’t sure what was going on.  Could it have been the gluten, or maybe the dairy? Couldn’t have been either because neither has been reintroduced into my diet.  Maybe caffeine?  Nope, definitely haven’t had any caffeine.  I read somewhere that low magnesium levels could cause more cramping, but before I start taking supplements, I want to do a little more digging.  So what could it be?  I eat rice occasionally (sushi or a little with some grilled chicken) – but how would that attribute to cramps?  So I did a little bit of research.  Rice is a high carb, high glycemic index food – so it spikes sugar levels.  Okay, so now we’re getting somewhere.  Aside from rice, sugar has been introduced back into my diet.  Not in a crazy way, but more than I should consume.  So I figured maybe it’s not the rice so much, as it is the sugar!

For 2 months I decided to cut down to pretty much zero sugar intake.  The first time my cramps came around I was going to make observations, but really, the true test would be the second month.  So the first time around the cramps were moderate, not severe.  They were still there, lasted the same amount of time.  The second time around was much different.  I anticipated that I would feel cramps leading up to it – I didn’t.  Okay, so that was a good thing.  Then I was waiting for the real cramps – there was NONE.  I was almost worried, but delightfully relieved.  I made it through with no cramps and no exhaustion!  I wanted to run to the top of the mountains and scream at the top of my lungs – I didn’t.  Ha Ha

So I enlisted my friend as my first test subject.  She is also a sufferer of some pretty incredibly painful cramps.  I told her for 2 months, cut out sugar, and after the second month, report back to me.  Guess what?  No cramps.  So maybe it’s just a fluke, but I would say that’s a pretty solid result.  Sugar causes menstrual cramps.  Therefore, cutting out sugar or lowering your intake altogether will help ease the pain.

I haven’t done much research as far as looking into sugar as an inflammatory ingredient, but I know it is.  I just can’t explain why at the moment.  I did a quick search and came up with this on experiencelife.com.  It says, “…a too frequent or too heavy supply of sugar pushes the pancreas into overdrive, causing it to release too much insulin, and an excessive release of insulin spells inflammatory trouble.”  ’nuff said…at least for now.

If any ladies out there with awful cramps are willing to try this experiment – 2 months zero sugar, and would like to talk about their discoveries, let me know.  Just leave a message in the comments!  I’m interested to see what other’s say.  This may not work for everyone, but it’s certainly worth a try.  Also, any Paleo ladies – what has happened with your cramps since going Paleo?

“Eat less sugar.  You’re sweet enough already.”