Leaky Gut - Why You Struggle to Keep Weight Off | Nutrition, Diet & Weight Loss | JJ Virgin

You've probably heard about leaky gut and you may even wonder if you have it because you're having so much trouble losing weight and getting your fatigue, brain fog, skin issues and achy joints under control. Well, I'm here to show you how. Hey there. I'm JJ Virgin. I'm a four times New York Times best selling author and Fitness hall of famer. And I've been helping people get healthy and lose weight for good for a long, long time. So if you'd like to stay connected, hit like on this video and subscribe to this channel so you don't miss out. Now, in this video, I'm going to help you figure out if leaky gut is the reason you've been having trouble losing weight and keeping it off. And teach you three simple steps to break that cycle and lose fat fast. Like in three weeks, fast. Well, first off, it's one of the most common causes of many frustrating symptoms and conditions. So let me know if any of this sounds familiar. Fatigue, headaches, digestive problems like irritable bowel, skin problems like acne and eczema, joint pain, brain fog, food cravings, and moodiness. These all point to food intolerance, which could also mean you may be dealing with a bigger issue, leaky gut. And in this video, I'm going to tell you what leaky gut is, how to figure out if you have it, and how to fix it using simple diet and lifestyle hacks. Foods you want to eat, food you want to get rid of, and the supplements to take. Now, leaky gut is very common but commonly undiagnosed because symptoms can be delayed for hours or even days and made worse by stress, by eating gluten or fructose, by toxins, certain medications, and an altered gut flora. So you really have to Sherlock the connection between what you're feeling and what you eat. So what the heck is leaky gut? Because it sounds kind of gross, right? I mean, what's leaking leaky gut is also called increased intestinal permeability. Increased, meaning your gut lining is supposed to let some things through, like vitamins and mineral, like this, but not like this. And certainly not like this. So when the tight junctions in your intestinal wall become loose from being assaulted with constant stress. I mean, who doesn't have stress? A processed diet, fructose, gluten, GMO foods and certain medications, especially antibiotic use, aspirin, pain meds, and antioxids. It can disrupt your gut microbiome. The little holes get bigger and bigger and start letting things through. That can make you sick. Bacteria, toxins, and undigested food particles seep into your bloodstream and your body freaks out. Now, the thing is, you don't have to have gut problems to have leaky gut. Leaky gut can cause headaches, issues with your skin crater your energy, meaning it can impact your thyroid function and bring on brain fog and anxiety and depression that seems impossible to shake. So how did your gut get leaky in the first place? Well, first off, diet, gluten containing grains, dairy allergens and intolerances, processed foods and GMOs, or genetically modified foods, to be specific. And of course, pathogens are another issue. These are the bad guys that declare war on your gut. The most common that cause a leaky gut are candida overgrowth, intestinal parasites, and small intestinal bacterial overgrowth. You've probably heard of this as sibo. So gut dysbiosis is an imbalance in your gut, meaning you don't have enough good bacteria to fight off the bad bacteria. Good bacteria can also help you break down phytates that prevent nutrient absorption. So they are super important. And then there are toxins. These can also include medications. Medications like pain relievers also can irritate the intestinal lining, create inflammation, and lead to a leaky gut. And again, antibiotics kill off the good bacteria. They're not just getting rid of the bad stuff, they're getting rid of all the stuff. So if you can avoid them, avoid them. And then probably the biggest culprit, stress. And by the way, it doesn't matter if it's physical or emotional. Stress is flat out bad for your gut. Oh, my God. Chronic stress suppresses the immune system, leading to more inflammation and a leaky gut. And of course, there's your genes. There are just some people who are more susceptible to leaky gut than other people. Gluten and stress may lead to a leaky gut in you, but not in someone else. Yeah, that's not fair. So what should you do? I mean, beyond the yuck of having leaky gut, it causes some serious problems and will also make you miserable. So you have to heal your gut. There are three steps to tackle it and get back to looking and feeling great. Not to mention dropping that extra weight fast. Here they are. Step one, foods to swap. So inflammation is at the root of leaky gut and the brain smog, the headaches, the bloating, the gas, the cramps, the overall achiness, and the pounds packed around your middle. So to heal your gut, you have to start with your diet. Here are A few tips about what to swap out. Remove inflammatory foods and the specific food bombs that go off in your gut for three weeks. Just three weeks. Come on. Can we agree you can do anything for three weeks? First of all, that's gluten, a huge one. Now, you don't have to have celiac disease to benefit from cutting out gluten. In fact, I find that 90% of the people I pulled off gluten feel better without it. And honestly, I'm convinced the other 10%, well, they didn't really get it out. That's my guess. Intolerance symptoms pop up as weight gain, digestive upset, headaches, joint pain, anxiety, depression, and especially leaky gut. Next, swap dairy. So lactose intolerance is pretty common, but casein in dairy, to me, that intolerance is even more common. We just haven't heard about it. And both lactose and casein can cause stomach pain, gas and bloating, diarrhea, constipation, or congestion. Plus, dairy can also cause or exacerbate skin conditions like acne and rosacea. So cut out dairy for three weeks and give your gut a chance to calm down. Also, see what your skin looks like and then reintroduce it after that slowly to see if it works for you or not. All right, let's talk about what you're going to swap in. Right, everyone wants to know, what can I eat? Here it is. These are all anti inflammatory gut healing foods. First one, bone broth. When you really think about it, bone broth is the holy grail of gut healing. It's got collagen and gelatin, both of which reinforce the integrity of your intestinal lining and reduce inflammation. Inflammation. Next one, cooked and fermented veggies, especially sauerkraut and kimchi, that have lots of healing probiotics to restore that good bacteria in your gut. All right, and fiber, Fiber, fiber, fiber. Fiber is so amazing. It helps you feel fuller, longer, but it also is so good for, again, feeding the good bacteria in the gut. So we're going to increase your non starchy veggies and your slow, low carbs and then healthy fats. Healthy fats are things like wild salmon, avocado, walnuts, and flaxseeds. And what they do is help you reduce inflammation. Two other fats that I love, coconut oil and coconut milk, because they're antimicrobial and antiviral and can help with your balance of your gut bugs. Now, I've got to give a shout out to blueberries. I mean, they're High in antioxidants, they can fight off oxidative stress. But we've also found that they can help with blood sugar balance, too. And speaking of blood sugar balance, green tea does that as well. Drinking lots of water and lots of green tea can help flush out toxins and help you not be hungry in between your meals. All right, step two, add supplements. Now, if you have a leaky gut, you're dealing with systemic inflammation that creates symptoms like rashes and joint pain and headaches and fatigue, honestly, can knock you flat. These top gut healing supplements can help because you want to hit leaky gut with everything you've got. Of course, it started with food, but these are all going to amplify the effect. So one thing that I love to put in are probiotics, and you want to make sure that you get a product that has a high number of strains to fight off all the bad guys and help rebuild the good bacteria in your gut. And digestive enzymes, which are going to support your digestive system while you're healing, they're going to come in because, by the way, if you're under stress or over the age of 35, your enzymes are probably lower. These come in and help you break down food macromolecules, decreasing the chance those large molecules are going to damage your gut wall. You'll get natural enzymes, of course, in things like fermented foods, but it's not enough. So I always recommend supplementing at each of your meals. Then. I love this amino acid, L Glutamine. It is the top amino acid for healing the gut and protecting your intestinal wall from irritants and stress. So you're going to want to make sure you get L glutamine in. And if you're not drinking the bone broth or doing the bone broth protein powder, you're going to want to supplement both with L glutamine and with collagen. Now, collagen will give your body the building blocks it needs to heal your gut lining, which is so, so important. It's easy one, to throw into your smoothie or throw into some of your sauces. All right, step three, which introduces something you may not have tried yet, but it's amazing for gut healing and for weight loss. And it is fasting, specifically either intermittent fasting or something called omad, one meal a day. So it turns out when you fast for 12 to 16 hours a day, you're giving your gut a chance to rest and a huge opportunity to heal. Not one that's going to get if food is like constantly sloshing through in there, this is so much easier than you think. Right now you might be going, I'm going to be hungry. Well, here's the thing. You're going to stop eating at least three hours before bed. So let's say that you eat dinner at 7 and you go to bed at 10. So you stopped eating at 7, you went to bed at 10, you wake up at 6, you have some black coffee or some tea or some water and you don't eat for at least an hour. You've already made it 12 hours. You did it. And if you push it a little bit longer, like maybe you throw a workout in there, push it to eating your breakfast at 9. Wow, you just went 14. And maybe you take your dinner down to 6 and you push your breakfast to brunch at 10. Bingo. You just made it all the way to 16. But the bottom line is if you're saying, hey, I got bloating, cramping, brain fog, skin issues, I have food and tolerance, well, that's leaky gut syndrome. That's the root cause of your symptoms. So get the crap out of your diet. The sugar, the dairy, the gluten, the refined grains, and instead eat a lot of non starchy veggies, clean lean protein and healthy fats and then add the supplements to support healing and digestion. You can find the ones I take myself and use with my clients on my website. Leaky gut is so crazy common, it's hard to believe it's often missed as a diagnosis because honestly, this is such a thing for weight loss, resistance and such a thing for weight regain. Leaky gut can be caused by issues like stress, gluten, fructose toxicity, certain medications and altered gut flora, most of which we deal with every day. So if you want to heal your gut, you have to get at the cause. So check out my other resources in the links below. And once you heal your gut, you're going to see that your life is going to change for the better and fast. I hope you enjoyed this video on how to heal leaky gut. Now don't forget to like and subscribe so you can get more healthy lifestyle intel, tips and tricks. And in the next video, you're going to learn how to lower your sugar impact and discover how to ditch your sweet tooth and cravings for good. See you there.