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Zonulin: GI Friend or Foe?

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Zonulin is an inflammatory protein that was discovered by Alessio Fasano and his colleagues in 2000. This protein regulates the permeability of the gut lining. Friend:  When pathogenic bacteria is present, zonulin is triggered and performs its part in protecting us by temporarily opening up or loosening up the tight junctions of the gut lining to release the bugs through diarrhea, helping us get rid of the bacteria. After the pathogenic bacteria exits the body, zonulin levels decrease and the tight junctions return to closure. Foe: No one is able to digest gluten. Six percent of the global population are gluten sensitive (not the same as allergies or intolerances). This is separate from those who have celiac disease. For the six percent who are gluten sensitive, gluten is a stronger trigger for zonulin. The result is higher than normal levels of zonulin for these individuals. With higher levels of zonulin, tight junctions remain permeable allowing toxins, undigested food, etc. to escap
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Eat Well for Gut Health 101

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Eating well for gut health is not complicated.  Let's start with the basics! Taper down on pro-inflammatory foods:     Depending on your current gut health status, some may benefit from  TEMPORARILY keeping food and beverage items with added sugar and  refined carbohydrates at bay. These items can be returned mindfully and  occassionally after the state of inflammation in your gut has diminished. Bring on the nutrient packed anti-inflammatory foods:     Have fun alternating different vegetables and fruits that you enjoy according to the rainbow Savor those avocados and olives Crunch on the variety of nuts and seeds available Nourish the ecological community in your gut part 1: Consume a variety of prebiotic rich foods, which fuel the live micro-organisms called probiotics. Peanuts & nuts w/ skin Garlic Onions Apples Bananas Asparagus  Dandelion Greens Others! Nourish the ecological community in your gut part 2:      Consume a variety of prebiotic rich foods, which fuel the li
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Tune Out Toxins and Toxicants

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Toxins is another key culprit in wreaking havoc on gut health. If ingested or inhaled, toxins  can result in dysbiosis leading to leaky gut or intestinal permeability. The truth is that toxins are everywhere. We cannot completely avoid them.  However, there are a few areas where we can at least escape some of them. First of all, let's look at the difference between the two words toxins and toxicants.  Toxins are poisonous substances that are naturally produced by plants,animals and insects. Toxicants are potentially poisonous and are either naturally produced or synthetically made. The major areas we can decrease our ingestion, inhalation or application of toxins and toxicants are the following: 1. Food 2. Cooking ware 3. Beauty products 4. Household cleaning products 5. Dental care products The following are a few companies that have certified determination of ingredients that are toxic and safe: 1. United States Environmental Protection Agency 2. Made Safe 3. BeautyCounter 4. Tox
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Lower Your Stress by Ditching the Diet Mentality

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Stress is a viable culprit proven to affect gut health. In order to live BETTER, one must manage their stress levels.  It would be nice if we can get rid of stress, but especially as we're living through these unprecedented times, it's not easy to avoid stress all together. What's one aspect we can manage?  Well, let's look at the word diet.  People use the word diet when they want to lose weight or they have a medical condition and in order to control their medical condition, they say they are on a diet. For me, the word diet has connotations such as "you can't have this" or "you can't have that" when it comes to food. This places any individual in a position of restriction or restraint.  Our immediate human reaction to restrictions is that something is controlling us and we don't like it. The thought of deprivation results in wanting even more of that one thing we can't have.  These feelings of restraints results in unconscious
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Banana Date Smoothie

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Here's a quick-refreshing drink for the summer time! Ingredients: 4 pitted dates 1 whole banana (frozen and cut into one inch pieces) 3/4 cup milk of choice (I use unsweetened soy milk) Directions: Place dates, frozen banana pieces and milk in a blender and blend away!  Enjoy! JeJe's Website
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Live BETTER: Get Gut Healthier

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The Live BETTER program that I developed and work with is simply the following.  This framework consists of six pillars.  They are: B-Breathe deeply through the stress. E-Enjoy moving it! T-Trust in the Lord. T-Tune out toxins. E-Eat well. R-Rest regularly. Each pillar is inter-related with each other to achieve your optimum gut health! Cheers to BETTER living! **************** JeJe's Website
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Back to Basics: Gut Health Definitions

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We're not even going to talk about eating well to live well on this post for now.  Let's back up to the basics of understanding important definitions. The two words we will look at are eubiosis and dysbiosis. We all have a wonderful community that lives in our gut. This community consists of both beneficial bacteria and pathogenic bacteria. Beneficial bacteria helps us digest food that we eat and aids in absorption of nutrients.  Excessive amounts of pathogenic bacteria can lead to illness. Eubiosis is our goal for optimum health. Eubiosis is a state when there are more beneficial bacteria to pathogenic bacteria residing in our gut.  In addition, there is a good variety of different beneficial bacteria present. This balance helps keep the lining of our gut stay intact, which in turn helps us from getting sick.   Dysbiosis is the opposite of eubiosis. In dysbiosis, there is either more pathogenic bacteria present
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