askins Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 What supplements would you all recommend for healing leaky gut? I have read some experiences of whole30 participants and also medical professionals who recommend Aloe Vera Juice. Other candidates include L-glutamine, deglycrrhizinated licorice root, and digestive enzymes. Thoughts? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
msssjenna Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 kefir, kombucha tea, sauerkraut .. i havent experienced with the ones you listed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators Tom Denham Posted July 16, 2013 Moderators Share Posted July 16, 2013 The secret is not supplements. It is keeping foods that cause trouble out of your diet and giving your body time to heal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
askins Posted July 16, 2013 Author Share Posted July 16, 2013 The secret is not supplements. It is keeping foods that cause trouble out of your diet and giving your body time to heal. Yes. We are also on the whole30, low-FODMAP, and in the process of eliminating all fruit except grapes and berries (which are known to be okay). I had just read a lot of good things about Aloe Vera Juice and wondered if it was worth pursuing. I have a very large aloe plant... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnymama Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 Gelatin. Great Lakes is the brand I prefer. I agree diet is most important but I want to attack the poor gut health from all angles for a while and so I use gelatin to help. I also eat some sort of probiotic food daily. Raw kraut or other fermented veggies like beets. Acquired taste but worth it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
askins Posted July 16, 2013 Author Share Posted July 16, 2013 How do you take the gelatin? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnymama Posted July 16, 2013 Share Posted July 16, 2013 How do you take the gelatin? __________________________________________________________ Well not to be the bad influence in the group (sorry in advance, Tom and others!) but I take it in my green smoothie ...which is small, not crazy, and not a meal replacement. I aim to take it with Meals One and Three; most days I accomplish that, so that's two tablespoons per day. It has no taste so I don't mind taking it in just plain warmish water, tea, coffee, or anything but I have a hard time getting it to dissolve just by stirring it in. In the fall I'll add it to bone broths but it's too hot outside even think of that right now! Some people make vitamin gummies or "jello jiggler" type things with it but I don't want anything resembling candy around because of my on going quest to starve my sugar dragon to death. So it just works best for me in smoothie or other liquid. Wellness Mama has some good links put together and some recipes. http://wellnessmama.com/7419/12-uses-for-gelatin/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen Posted July 18, 2013 Share Posted July 18, 2013 I, too, second eliminating any offending foods for any period of time, but, my doctor and I are treating it with supplements in conjunction with diet. She's never seen such an imbalance as she has with me so we're hitting it from every angle... Here's our plan: - Eliminate all offending foods for 3-6 months, minimum. I have 20 foods to avoid that showed up on a food sensitivity test alone, plus others that I'm aware of but haven't been tested for. Add eat even more veggies than I had been. - I'm on digestive enzymes (Digest Gold) and HCL. These made a HUGE difference in how I felt after a meal. - I was treated for parasites - both the one that was identified via a test, and the one that we know exists but couldn't be identified. - Probiotics - both high potency and soil-based. (Fermented foods and kombucha caused a negative reaction for me so those are off limits.) - My doctor gave me a supplement specific for leaky gut (this one). - I'm taking additional fiber (she directed me to a specific type, but I don't recall off the top of my head) In addition, I second the gelatin. I use a form that is easily dissolvable. I mix it with my probiotic and fiber every morning. My skin is a lot softer and I seem to shed water weight when I take it regularly. Not sure why, but I'm not complaining! I did 4 Whole30+ prior to my treatment plan and never had the kind of success that I had hoped for. But, in conjunction with the treatment plan, I'm doing SO much better! I weigh the same as I did after my first Whole30, but I'm much smaller now. I have a ton more energy. I'm not nearly as bloated. I don't retain nearly as much water. Brain fog isn't as much of an issue. I finally feel more like myself. So, yeah, food is a huge part of this, but some of us do well with a little bit more in the meantime. Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmh Posted July 18, 2013 Share Posted July 18, 2013 My mom has leaky gut and has had so many problems. The whole 30 has helped her and she is taking digestive enzymes. She does have some problems still and when I told her about what I read on the forum she wanted to know how the gelatin helps? Maybe it is something that will help her. She has been hospitalized for intestinal issues and struggles to keep her weight up which may seem nice for some of us (including me) but it is really hard to be sick all the time and keep losing weight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnymama Posted July 18, 2013 Share Posted July 18, 2013 In addition, I second the gelatin. I use a form that is easily dissolvable. I mix it with my probiotic and fiber every morning. My skin is a lot softer and I seem to shed water weight when I take it regularly. Not sure why, but I'm not complaining! ___________________________________________________________________________________________ Karen- Which gelatin do you use? I agree about the skin benefits, guess that's the collagen at work? Whatever it is it's a nice little bonus. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen Posted July 18, 2013 Share Posted July 18, 2013 I use this:www.gelatininnovations.com/pages/joint_care.html. It was suggested to me by a paleo nutritionist last year (along with Great Lakes). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
feistylynn Posted July 18, 2013 Share Posted July 18, 2013 Karen, how did you treat for parasites and what specific supplement for leaky gut? Sorry the link didn't work for me. I'm a newbie, and have searched far and wide to find answers for digestive issues that are pretty bad, and stubborn weight. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
askins Posted July 18, 2013 Author Share Posted July 18, 2013 Thanks so much for your input. This is for my husband, but I'm sort of managing the research and nutrition for him. I've got him on Slippery Elm, Marshmallow Root, Glutamine, DGL, and the NOW brand Super Enzymes with HCL. I started to add a high quality probiotic, but he's having some issues, and so I'm stopping that until he has had some healing time. We are going to add gelatin, as you have recommended, as soon as it arrives in the mail (Great Lakes brand). We started the Whole30 last Monday night. He felt really good by about Friday, even having some solid BMs and evenings with no bloating (for the first time in his life). He had a flare-up of his horrible gut issues that started on Friday night after eating watermelon, which turns out to be a FODMAP, and he has known issues with many FODMAPs. At that point we went to a strictly low-FODMAP plan for him, but he continued to have his usual bloating/runs/IBS-like issues every night, until last night (Wednesday). Last night he was extremely fatigued starting in the afternoon. He couldn't eat much at dinner, and shortly after was wracked by terrible nausea, diarrhea, malaise. Has this happened to anyone else trying to convert to a gluten-free/paleo diet? Is this a die off of some bad bacteria or candida? I don't like to see him in such pain, but I also want to push him through this if it's a normal step in the healing process. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Karen Posted July 19, 2013 Share Posted July 19, 2013 Karen, how did you treat for parasites and what specific supplement for leaky gut? Sorry the link didn't work for me. I'm a newbie, and have searched far and wide to find answers for digestive issues that are pretty bad, and stubborn weight. Thanks. My doc prescribed me a pill I had to take a few times, a few weeks apart. But that's because a stool test showed which one I specifically had. She also put me on a supplement for parasites because another one showed up on my test, but they couldn't identify it. Any chance you can find an integrative doc that's open to stool testing? For me, that was by far money well spent as it revealed a ton, and likely the root of the rest of my health issues. Parasites, bacterial imbalance, inflammation, etc. Re: the supplement for leaky gut, she gave me this one: http://www.amazon.com/Designs-Health-Revive-Powder-Beauty/dp/B000FH11M4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1374196990&sr=8-1&keywords=Gi+revive It comes in both a capsule and a powder. I'm sure there are others, but this is the only one I have experience with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Wheat on Trial Posted February 9, 2014 Share Posted February 9, 2014 Just wondering with some of the mention of probiotics in this thread - does anybody recommend taking a probiotic supplement after the whole 30? If I were to start taking them, should I do it during or after reintroduction? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fitnessfanatic Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 After years and years of trying to figure things out, I finally feel I'm on the right track. I started going gluten free about 2 years ago, it helped me alot with IBS issues but I couldn't loose weight no matter how hard I tried. I decided to try going completely paleo and my energy came back and I have felt great! My issues lately have been major gas after I eat. I have been researching and I'm going to try the Now Brand Betaine HCL and perhaps the Digest Ultimate. Would it be okay to take both? I have always had major issues digesting beef of any kind so I have avoided it for most of my adult life - I wonder if low stomach acid has been my issue the entire time. Is there any harm in taking both? I see member Askins above is taking NOW brand Super Enzymes with HCL curious on if that one is more of an all in 1 vs. taking the 2 separate. I'm going to also look into the gelatin mentioned. How much gelatin should be taken daily? Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fitnessfanatic Posted February 27, 2014 Share Posted February 27, 2014 Did a little field trip out at lunch. I stopped at whole foods - seems like they carry the digest gold brand that was mentioned by Karen. I am wondering what is the difference between the Digest Basic which is the cheapest at $16.99 for 90 caps, Digest ( Regular I assume ) at $27.99 for 90 caps and the Digest Gold ATPro at $46.99 I asked about also taking HCL and she suggested just trying the enzymes first so not sure on that yet. Hoping some of you can help me out. I also checked out the Sauerkraut to eat ( not sure how much daily to help with digestion ) and the kombucha which seems expensive to buy at $3.99 a bottle to have daily. I am new here so I'll have to dig around, hoping you all can help me out with the supplements. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EatTrainClean Posted February 28, 2014 Share Posted February 28, 2014 Besides following what Tom mentioned, I would recommend Prescript-Assist. Broad spectrum, soil based pre- and pro- biotic. It's usually used by practitioners, but you can buy it yourself. I have personally used it and it works very well for re-populating gut flora, as well as in many other scenarios. http://www.prescript-assist.com/ It is very strong and you may want to start with 1 pill per day. I did 2 per day for 30 days, and the beginning was definitely an adjustment period. Hopefully this helps Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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