What is Leaky Gut?

The intestinal walls are supposed to be bullet-proof, a wall between the body and the contents in the intestines. As the food is digested, it slowly crosses the intestinal wall and enters into the bloodstream. One of the most important role of the intestines is separating nutrition from waste. Ideally, this means that waste is excreted instead of entering the bloodstream. But some individuals have a hole in their intestines - a leak.

The liver, kidneys, and immune system are responsible for cleaning up the rogue toxins that enter the bloodstream.

The liver breaks up the toxins, but this takes up a lot of energy. In a leaky gut, this leads to liver fatigue, generally fatigued as well. There is limited tolerance for stress.

The body’s natural detoxification process generates free radicals and uses up antioxidants. These free radicals end up in the bile, this  bile goes in the gut to digest the fats and irritate the gut further. It creates a vicious leaky circle, where the already irritated gut gets irritated further.

The kidneys too play an important role in cleansing the blood; they eliminate toxins through the urine. The overly toxic blood burdens the kidneys. This can cause dehydration which limits the body’s  ability to produce enzymes and weakens digestion even further.

When liver and kidney are unable to detoxify the blood, the nervous system gets irritated. The immune system goes on high alert. This can cause autoimmune disorders, or food and skin allergies.

Can leaky gut affect emotions?

With a leaky gut, the lack of physical boundaries creates a lack of mental boundaries too. This delicate sensitivity of a person with leaky gut is considered an imbalance in the subtle quality (sukshma guna) in Ayurveda.

How can Ayurveda help?

There are tests that can determine a leaky gut. Two sugars are to be ingested, one with really small molecules, and one with large molecules, and followed up with a urine test. Lots of the large sugars in  urine indicates a leaky gut.

The intestines are therefore equipped to fix their own leak, as the intestinal epithilium has the fastest regenerating rate in the body.

1. A diet of easy to digest foods.

2. Use anti-inflammatory herbs.

3. Feed the good bacteria in the gut and starve the bad.

4. Eat good quality fats and organic foods.

5. Avoid alcohol and fried foods.

6. Use adaptogenic herbs, and hypoallergenic herbs.

7. Do Pranayama and adopt a healthy lifestyle.