What About Probiotic Supplements
Probiotics can be helpful in treating irritable bowel syndrome, diarrhea, colitis, acne, and eczema. And the strongest evidence for probiotics is related to their use in improving gut health and boosting immune function.
But probiotic supplements dont always work. In fact, a lot of people are taking probiotic supplements that are essentially a waste of money.
Heres the issue: the vast majority of probiotic bacteria are active and effective in the lower portions of the gastrointestinal tract. To get to there, though, these bacteria must survive your highly acidic stomach environment.
So how can you keep these probiotics intact? In other words, when should you take them?
Gastritis Diet: What To Eat And What To Avoid
The term gastritis refers to any condition that involves inflammation of the stomach lining. Eating certain foods and avoiding others can help people manage gastritis symptoms.
Gastritis can be acute or chronic. Acute gastritis comes on suddenly and severely, while chronic gastritis lasts for a longer time.
Different factors cause different types of gastritis. Symptoms include:
- indigestion
- nausea
- feeling full
For most people, gastritis is minor and will go away quickly after treatment. However, some forms of gastritis can produce ulcers or increase the risk of cancer.
Diet is an important player in your digestive and overall health. Following a gastritis-friendly diet can go a long way toward relieving your symptoms and helping you feeling better.
Know Which Foods Make You Feel Worse
For most people, high fat foods can worsen gastritis symptoms. The same goes for spicy foods. Acidic foods, like oranges and grapefruit, as well as carbonated drinks like soda can aggravate the symptoms, too.
Coffee can also be a culprit. I love my coffee, so this was a real problem for me, personally.
There may be other foods that you know prevent you from feeling your best.
If you are willing and able, keep a food diary to see if your symptoms get worse when you consume these foods or any other food.
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How Your Diet Contributes To Gastritis
Adjusting your diet is one important step in helping the stomach lining heal and preventing inflammation from developing in the first place or from returning. Thats why you want to follow a gastritis diet treatment plan if you have this condition. Acute gastritis and stomach ulcer symptoms usually go away within several weeks when someone removes the irritants that cause stomach inflammation and erosion to develop. Studies suggest that other steps to reduce gastritis and stomach ulcers include limiting or eliminating use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs , quitting smoking, lowering alcohol consumption, reducing stress, and improving immune function.
Certain foods can make gastritis symptoms worse and should be avoided on a gastritis diet to help control symptoms while you heal. These include very acidic foods, spicy or hot foods, alcohol , caffeine, and processed/packaged foods. On the other hand, foods high in fiber, antioxidants like vitamin C, electrolytes like magnesium and calcium, vitamin B12, probiotics and omega-3 fatty acids can help lower inflammation and boost digestive health.
A healing gastritis diet that features mostly vegetables, fruits, high-quality proteins and healthy fats can help manage painful symptoms, allow you to maintain a healthy weight, and prevent deficiencies in critical vitamins, minerals and antioxidants that can lead to further complications down the road.
Facts About Gastritis:
Strategy #: Prevent Damage In The First Place
“All disease begins in the gut” – Hippocrates, 460BC-375BC
The first rule of healing the gut barrier is to keep it from being damaged in the first place.NSAIDs , alcohol, coffee, cigarettes, as well as intake of inflammatory and sugar-laden foods hurt the gut.Grains, legumes, and nuts hurt the gut too when not prepared appropriately. Traditional preparations such as soaking & sprouting nuts, legumes, and grains are best to reduce lectins and other compounds known to ease insults to the gut lining.These ingredients are also often stored in bins for long periods of time. Moisture, mold spores, or other microbial growth may contaminate even organic & otherwise healthy products. These microbes produce toxins & elicit immune responses that are also damaging to the gut.
The harvesting of grains like wheat will also use gut-hurting compounds like glyphosphate .
Round-up recently made headlines as a man with terminal cancer was awarded $39 million, and Monsanto was fined $250 million after the ruling implicated glyphosphate as a cause of the man’s disease.Glyphosphate helps dehydrate wheat before harvesting & eases the physical process of gathering the grain. Most non-organic wheat contains glyphosphate residues. Even if you’re not gluten sensitive, or sensitive to the many other problematic proteins in wheat – you also need to contend with glyphosphate residue.
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How Is Gastritis Diagnosed
Your healthcare provider will ask about your symptoms and history and perform a physical exam. Your provider may also order one or more of these tests:
- Breath test: During an H. pylori breath test, you swallow a capsule or liquid containing urea, a harmless radioactive material. You then exhale into a balloon-like bag. H. pylori bacteria change urea into carbon dioxide. If you have the bacteria, the breath test will show an increase in carbon dioxide.
- Blood test: A blood test checks for antibodies titers that fight H. pylori bacteria.
- Stool test: This test checks for H. pylori bacteria in your stool .
- Upper endoscopy: Your doctor uses an endoscope to see your stomach. The doctor inserts the scope through your esophagus, which connects your mouth to your stomach. An upper endoscopy procedure allows your provider to examine the stomach lining. You may also have a tissue sample taken from your stomach lining to test for infection.
- Upper gastrointestinal exam: During an upper GI exam, you swallow a chalky substance called barium. The liquid coats your stomach lining, providing more detailed X-ray images.
Four Essential Rules To Follow For Probiotics
Rule #1:Probiotics need to make it through the stomach acid alive.
Rule #2: Spore probiotics live in the soil. These soil-based organisms are gut microbes that use dirt as the vector into our body.
Initially, take them for 30-60 days straight before moving to the “three on, seven off” schedule. Start low & work up to the dosage at first as with most probiotics, prebiotics or antimicrobial extracts.
Rule #3: Dietary starches and fibers do not feed spore probiotics
Since most of us do not play in the dirt regularly or eat soil-dusted food like our ancestors, I recommend supplementation with spore probiotics to assure we’re receiving the gut and immune benefits of soil based organisms.I use Megasporebiotic, Restorflora, HU58, and to a lesser degree, Truflora to support spore diversity – Microbiome Labs is the industry leader for spore probiotics & have created a fantastic, clinically-studied suite of products for the gut.
Rule #4: You cannot supplement with some healthy bacteria in the gut as the gut is naturally an anaerobic environment. Anaerobic bacteria cannot survive the oxygen-rich environment of a capsule powder.
Use PREbiotics to promote the growth of these strains. I discuss prebiotics in the next section.
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Strategy #: Direct Gut Lining Support
Think of the gut as a 3-layered tube.
Gut microbes comprise the inner area of the tube. Here, they interact with the non-sterile slurry delivered from the stomach. The slurry can contain pathogens & harmful proteins.The middle layer is the mucosa – this is the connective cushion that contains immune cells and “food” for gut microbes & fuel for immune cells and our gut lining. The next inner layer of the tube is the cells of intestinal lining . The absorptive folds known as “villi” provide surface area for absorption. Between the cells of the folds are microscopic junctions. These tight junctions comprise the physical “gates” that control what gets into the blood & what stays out. “Leaky gut” refers to the unintended opening of these gates.The intestinal lining is the last layer of defense between the outside environment & the inside world of the bloodstream. It also coordinates cross-talk between the mucosa, the immune system, & bacteria .
Mucosal Lining Support
I use L-Glutamine Powder by Pure Encapsulations and often use more affordable L-Glutamine by Progressive Labs in a bulk size.
Zinc Carnosine
Zinc carnosine deserves a strong mention for direct lining support. It is one of the more underrated supplements & one of my favorites.
Immunoglobulins & Amino Acid Building Blocks for Mucosal Repair
L-glutamine & zinc carnosine are only part of the story.
Here’s a summary of how these nutrients work to support mucosal repair:
Chia Flax And Hemp Seeds
Good for: Constipation, gut inflammation
Chia seeds, flaxseeds, and hemp seeds are excellent sources of fiber, a healing nutrient for the gut. Fiber is the key nourishment for the gut microbes, which feast on it and transform it into fatty acids that work at the cellular level , Swift explains.
This fiber-to-fatty-acid transformation also exerts a positive influence on the gutbrain axis. A daily dose of fiber is hope delivered straight to the brain, she adds.
Flaxseeds have been shown to reduce inflammation in the gut and improve glucose tolerance. Both flaxseeds and chia seeds are rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which help tamp down inflammation systemwide. And the added fiber is good for maintaining colon health.
How to Eat More: All three seeds add protein, fiber, and essential fatty acids to your morning smoothie. Toasted hemp seeds add crunch to salads. Ground flaxseeds and chia seeds can be mixed with water and used to replace eggs to bind baked goods.
Chia seeds are great thickeners: Mix them with coconut milk, berries, and a little honey or maple syrup for a tasty pudding.
Cautions: Health experts once universally cautioned people who suffered from diverticulitis to avoid eating seeds because they might get stuck in the diverticula and trigger an infection. That view is changing, however, as the link between diverticulitis and seed consumption is unproven. Err on the side of caution and avoid seeds if you are recovering from a severe flare-up.
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Why Change My Diet
There are so many benefits to changing your diet if you suffer from stomach ulcers that it would be foolish not to. When you follow a diet that primates healthy stomach and gut health you will:
- Obtain the protein and nutrients that your body needs to repair itself.
- Help you to remove all foods that are aggravating the small intestine and stomach lining.
- It can help to minimize or control the symptoms of related conditions like bacterial infections, Crohns disease, or celiac. These can aggravate ulcer symptoms.
- Help to fill in any contributing nutritional deficiencies.
Certain foods help to repair the gastrointestinal lining that erodes form long term use of anti-inflammatory drugs or bacterial infection.
Supplements For Stomach Lining Support
Ready for these 15 supplements for stomach lining support?
I was inspired to write this post after updating the Purely Primal Skincare post. There is a gut-skin part in it, and one of the sections concentrates on healing the intestinal lining.
So, what is the stomach lining anyways? Maybe we should get this clear before talking about supporting it.
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Tempeh: A Traditional Soy Product Thats Been Eaten For Hundreds Of Years
This fermented soy food is becoming easier to find these days, with more and more eateries offering it on their menus and more stores stocking it on shelves.
A 2014 study in the Polish Journal of Microbiology showed that this popular protein can increase healthy bacteria, including Lactobacillus.
Try eating tempeh on sandwiches, in salads, or as a plant-based bacon alternative. Unlike most fermented foods, however, tempeh should be thoroughly cooked before you eat it. And most people find that it needs a lot of seasonings to taste good because plain tempeh can be a bit bitter and very bland.
As with all soy products, choosing organic is best if you can.
What Foods Relieve Gastritis Symptoms
The University of Maryland health-care professionals and others suggest that eating smaller, more frequent meals and avoiding foods that are spicy, acidic, fried or fatty will help reduce symptoms. Moreover, stress reduction is also recommended. Dietary changes such as ginger tea and/or chamomile tea with honey reportedly soothes gastritis symptoms while onions, garlic, cranberries, apples, and celery may stop H. pylori growth.
Foods that may stop H. pylori growth and relieve gastritis symptoms include:
- Teas
- Yogurt
A major cause of both acute and chronic gastritis is an infection of the stomach mucosa by a bacterial species named Helicobacter pylori. Usually, this bacterium first infects the stomach antrum acutely and may progress to infect most or all of the stomach’s mucosa over time and remain there for years. This infection generates an initial strong inflammatory response and eventually, a long-term chronic inflammation with intestinal cell changes may develop. Another major cause of acute and chronic gastritis is the use of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs .
However, there are many other causes of gastritis the following is a list of common causes of both acute and chronic gastritis chronic gastritis may occur with the repeated or continual presence of most of these causes:
- Bacterial, viral, and parasitic infections
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When To See A Gp
If you have indigestion and stomach pain, you can try treating this yourself with changes to your diet and lifestyle, or with medicines you can get from a pharmacy, such as antacids.
See a GP if:
- you have indigestion symptoms lasting a week or longer, or it’s causing you severe pain or discomfort
- you think it’s brought on by medicine you have been prescribed
Stomach ache and abdominal pain are not always a sign of gastritis.
The pain could be caused by a wide range of other things, from trapped wind to irritable bowel syndrome .
Strategy #: Feed Healthy Bacteria
Fibers and starches in our food cannot always be broken down by us. Gut microbes ferment and break down these substances for us.
In return, they produce invaluable substances such as Short Chain Fatty Acids , B vitamins, and Vitamin K2.SCFAs support healthy mucosa by promoting the production of mucus & regulating immune cell development locally in the gut .
Spore probiotics increase SCFA’s by as much as 40% – and clinical research being readied for publication demonstrates that spores also double to quadruple the diversity of other gut flora .
You can also support SCFA’s directly with supplementation. We use Enterovite to support SCFA levels in the short-term while working on more global issues of gastrointestinal health and microbial diversity.
In the absence of sufficient fibers & starches, healthy bacteria starve & microbial diversity drops. Yeast & opportunistic organisms also grow & take up more areas in the gut.
Importance of Adding & Maintaining Diet Diversity
Ancestral diets were rich in food diversity. It wasn’t until the advent of modern agriculture that our diets became less diverse.
Human ancestors consumed numerous varieties of plants, animals, insects, and roots and tubers. Now, we eat a much more limited array of foods in our diet. The modern diet is unnaturally high in monocultures of wheat, dairy, corn, and soy.
Symptoms are a sign that you are lacking the bacterial balance in your gut to ferment these tough-to-digest foods.
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Know When To Be Concerned
Not all gastritis is caused by stress or whatever you are eating and drinking. Another cause of gastritis is the aforementioned H. pylori bacteria. These bacteria, according to the experts at the UCDavis Health, are incredibly adaptive.
The bacteria, explains UCDavis, adhere to the mucosal lining of your stomach. They have adapted so well that when mucosal cells are about to be sloughed off your stomach lining, the H. pylori bacteria simply jump to newer mucosal cells, avoiding that plunge into the chemical bath that would kill them.
An untreated H. pylori infection can lead to the development of gastric ulcers. Even more concerning, cautions UCDavis, is that chronic H. pylori that is left untreated can develop into one of the fastest-moving and deadliest cancers: Gastric cancer, UCDavis explains, is very hard to treat, moves quickly and kills 1 million people worldwide every year.
Read more:Foods to Avoid for Gastritis
Tips To Boost The Healing Of The Esophagus
As per the clinical study of 2017, it has been found out that consuming too much of sugary food items increases the risk of this esophagus problem. It is mainly because the blood sugar level rises up when there is too much sugar in the diet. The risk of changes in the tissue and cancer increases due to high level of the hormone insulin. When a diet contains high sugar along with carbohydrate then it is most likely for a person to gain excess weight and be obese. Refined and simple carbohydrates should be chosen like sucrose, glucose, dextrose etc.
Lifestyle factors like managing weight, eating on time and avoiding heavy meals help in controlling the acid reflux. Seeking timely medical help and monitoring health status regularly is very important. Hence, while including foods good for healing esophagus, it is also important to avoid excess sugars, refined and spicy foods to avoid damage to the esophageal lining.
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An Important Note About Eating Pickled Vegetables
Making pickled veggies, like sauerkraut and kimchi, part of your diet can be a healthy step. But pickled veggies should only be part of your vegetable consumption.
They are usually very salty. And people who make pickled vegetables a primary source of vegetables in their diet tend to get more sodium than is optimal, which can contribute to higher rates of certain forms of cancer.
So to be sure not to increase your risk of cancer, aim to make fresh, non-fermented vegetables a more significant part of your diet than pickled vegetables.
Think about eating small portions of fermented foods daily and using them as a source of salt, replacing table salt, soy sauce, or other salt sources with pickled vegetables.