The “How” of Optimizing Your Stomach & Gut Health

Now that I’ve covered both ends of the spectrum of “Why” let’s get started on the “How”.

The “How” of optimizing your Stomach & Gut Health is essentially broken down into 3 areas focus:

Improving the robustness of the epithelium
Populating / colonizing the epithelium with a robust, diverse and balanced biome to augment the existing biome
Regular and consistent consumption of probiotic foods

Improving the Robustness of the Epithelium

Assuming you do not have an acute/chronic condition with your Stomach & Gut one of the simplest things you can do to improve the epithelium of your GI tract is to increase your gelatin/collagen intake, particularly using gelatin/collagens from tripe and/or tracheal collagen both of which are ideal. My preference is to get these sources from traditional foods/dishes that are rich in collagen, including broth, but supplementation or making gelatin gummy treats will work if eating traditional foods rich in gelatin/collagen is going to be a stressful ordeal. I do encourage you to try and be open to options that not only will provide great health but expand your palate and horizons.

The fact is most modern Western cultures have done away with consuming most collagen rich foods. Because collagen proteins make up over a third of the protein in our bodies and these proteins tend to be relatively higher in turnover than, say, muscle proteins. While our liver can do it’s alchemy and make collagen from other substrates it does a much better and easier job when there is plenty of collagen in the diet.

Populating / Colonizing the Epithelium with a Robust, Diverse and Balanced Biome

Concurrent with building lush and robust villi we then introduce specific strains of Probiotics shown to colonize in the GI tract. While the majority of this colonization occurs in the colon some will occur in other areas of the digestive tract. OFM has identified some of the most common strains and selected Probiotic products which are shown to colonize. Most of the Probiotics on the market are not shown to colonize.

Secondly, OFM has developed protocols that are both effective, long term and SAVE you money!

With colonizing strains the OFM protocol for someone wanting to improve their Stomach & Gut Health is to take the probiotic for 3 days, wait a week, then 2 days, wait another week, then 1 day. Thereafter the probiotics should sit on the door shelf of your refrigerator unless the following occur:

You get an infection and are on a course of antibiotics
If you are on meds for a prolonged period of time
Before, during and after travel to places where food options will vary and/or are very different from your normal dietary choices
If you have a bout of diarrhea or food poisoning
After any ultra-endurance event
When your processed food options are prolonged beyond normal

In addition to colonizing your Stomach and Gut it is sometimes necessary to perform a simple, natural cleanse using Diatomaceous Earth. 1-2 Tablespoons of Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth in the morning in a fasted state for 1-5 days when appropriate prior to or in conjunction with colonization of probiotics has shown to be effective to cleanse the digestive system, kill parasites and improve bone health.

Regular and Consistent Consumption of Probiotic Foods

It is just as important to be consuming probiotic foods for what I term as “Transient Probiotics”. This is because there is a LOT of hyperbole surrounding probiotic foods and it is important to understand that most of the probiotics/probiotic effect in these foods are rendered inactive by stomach acid and bile, however, a small portion does survive to reside in the small intestine and colon but often in a transient fashion requiring reintroduction.

Here is a short list of various probiotic foods. This is by no means comprehensive but is a good starting point:

Live Culture Yogurt, full fat no sugar or sweeteners
Soft ripened cheeses: Brie, Camembert, goat cheese
Other live culture dairy as available, including raw milk, buttermilk and cottage cheese
Kimchi
Fermented live culture Sauerkraut
Kefir
Kombucha
Natto

Once you have developed this pattern of maintaining your Stomach & Gut Health you will see, feel and experience the subtle but significant benefits optimal Stomach & Gut Health has on your entire being which is a key part contributing to that upward cascade effect of OFM.

Adaption Week 7: Stomach and Gut Health

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