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What Are the Signs Leaky Gut Is Healing?

Science Based

Written by Amy Myers, MD

If you’re reading this, there is a good chance you have been following one of my programs because you have an autoimmune disease, thyroid condition, or other chronic illness. Did you know your gut could be the starting point of all these problems? Healing your gut is always the first step to reversing chronic illness and achieving optimal health. In most cases, that means repairing leaky gut. You might be wondering — what is leaky gut? What are the signs leaky gut is healing? I’ve got your answers!

In this article, I’ll cover how your gut becomes leaky, how to repair it, and five signs leaky gut is healing.

What Is Leaky Gut

Leaky gut happens when the tight junctions that hold your intestinal wall together become loose. You can think of your gut lining as a drawbridge. Teeny tiny boats (micronutrients in food meant to get through) go under the bridge without a problem. Because of this important system, vital nutrients from your food can be absorbed into your bloodstream.

Nevertheless, our diet, toxins, and stress can cause that drawbridge to go up. This allows partially digested food, microbes, bacteria, viruses, and toxins to pass through. Now that they’ve entered our bloodstream, they can cause inflammation. If you don’t take action to repair your leaky gut, it can lead to full-blown autoimmunity. (1)

Many factors can lead to leaky gut. The biggest culprit is gluten. That’s because every time you eat gluten, it triggers the production of zonulin. Zonulin is a protein that causes the tight junctions in your gut to open up. (2) 

Other common causes behind leaky gut are infections such as Candida overgrowth, Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO), and parasites. Even stress and exposure to everyday toxins can lead to a leaky gut infection.

How To Repair Leaky Gut

Leaky gut leads to inflammation. This can cause various issues, such as gastric problems, acne, and dandruff. At its most extreme, leaky gut can even lead to autoimmune diseases such as lupus and multiple sclerosis.

You could just continue to treat your leaky gut symptoms. However, that’s likely not a lasting solution. It’s like mopping up a puddle without fixing the leaky pipe—it’s just going to come back!

In functional medicine, we like to get to the root cause. Frequently, the root cause of autoimmune disease is a leaky gut. To restore the health of your intestinal wall, I recommend following functional medicine’s 4R Approach.

Remove

Remove the bad. Get rid of inflammatory foods that negatively affect the gut. These include gluten, dairy, corn, soy, eggs, and sugar. Eliminate other negative factors, such as infections from parasites, yeast, or bacteria. Irritants such as alcohol, caffeine, and drugs have got to go as well.

Restore

Restore what’s missing from your gut. Adding digestive enzymes and Gut Restore with Betaine and HCL to your regimen will help support optimal digestion and nutrient absorption. It will also assist your body’s intestinal repair and inflammation responses. Follow a nutrient-dense diet. Include plenty of organic greens, vegetables, and fruits, healthy fats, and quality proteins.

Reinoculate

Restore a healthy balance of good bacteria by reintroducing beneficial bacteria. You can do this with a high-quality, multi-strain, high-potency probiotic supplement.

Repair

Provide the nutrients necessary to help restore your gut lining. My most comprehensive weapon against leaky gut is Leaky Gut Revive®. It contains powerful gut-repairing ingredients like l-glutamine, aloe, and licorice. With these ingredients, Leaky Gut Revive® nourishes and soothes your gut cells. It restores your gut’s natural mucosal lining and maximizes gut-mending fatty acid production. 

Another one of my favorite supplements is collagen. It’s rich in amino acids that, quite literally, “seal the leaks” or perforations in your gut. It does this by repairing damaged cells and building new tissue.

On your journey to heal your leaky gut, you may encounter setbacks. These setbacks might include accidental gluten exposure. You can work to overcome this by using these three steps to recover after getting glutened. Or it could be a larger setback from needing to take antibiotics (which wipe out your good bacteria). A gut infection acquired while traveling might also set you back. These may require a more in-depth treatment protocol.

How Long Does It Take to Heal Leaky Gut?

Healing leaky gut can take longer for some than it does for others. After all, you didn’t develop leaky gut overnight. Healing leaky gut will certainly take some time as well.

What’s more, your healing time will also depend on whether or not your leaky gut stems from an underlying infection such as Candida overgrowth or SIBO. Considering all these factors can help you predict how long it will take to repair leaky gut.

5 Signs Leaky Gut Is Healing

Following this protocol does take commitment. Naturally, you want to see signs leaky gut is healing. There are some lab tests available. However, I typically don’t use them to diagnose leaky gut because most of my patients have autoimmunity. We know from the work of Dr. Alessio Fasano that if you have an autoimmune condition, you have (or at least had) a leaky gut.

After completing my protocol to repair your gut, your symptoms (or lack of them!) are the strongest signs leaky gut is healing. If the following list below describes you — congratulations! You’re on the right track to healing leaky gut. (3)

5 Signs Your Leaky Gut Is Healing - Infographic - Amy Myers MD®

Digestive Issues Disappear

Having a leaky gut does not always mean you have digestive issues. However, for many people, gas, bloating, heartburn or acid reflux, and constipation are some of the first signs of leaky gut. If a gut infection played a role in your leaky gut, this may apply to you. If your symptoms of leaky gut start to slow down or diminish completely it’s a good sign your dedication is finally paying off!

Food Sensitivities Go Away

If you have leaky gut, you likely also have multiple food sensitivities. Your immune system attacks itself when partially digested food particles get stuck in your gut. They then escape into your bloodstream and can cause all sorts of problems throughout the body.

If you suddenly get to enjoy foods that once gave you digestive issues, fatigue, headaches, brain fog, or mood issues, it may be one of the signs leaky gut is healing. You can reintroduce healthy foods and add more variety to your diet. Remember, the two biggest inflammatory foods (gluten and dairy) should never be reintroduced, even as you are healing leaky gut. After all, once it’s healed, the goal is to keep it that way!

Skin Issues Clear Up

Got skin troubles like eczema, rosacea, dandruff, rashes, or even acne? They might actually be connected to what’s happening in your gut. Most skin issues are like your body’s way of waving a little red flag to say, “Hey, something’s up inside!” In other words, they can be an outward manifestation of an internal problem in the gut. This is why improving skin problems could be one of the signs leaky gut is healing. (4)

Autoimmune Labs Improve

If your labs seem to have improved after you started the process of healing your gut, it could be one of the signs leaky gut is healing! Healing leaky gut often leads to improvement in your autoimmune lab markers. Some patients even see their antibodies go negative as one of the signs leaky gut is healing.

You Return to Your Optimal Self

If you are dealing with a leaky gut, the symptoms may affect your quality of life in some way. Those symptoms are the best barometer for the health of your gut. The biggest way to tell if your leaky gut is healing is when: 

  • your energy has returned
  • you’ve regained mental clarity
  • your mood has improved 
  • you’ve returned to your ideal weight 
  • you feel like your best self

It’s important to remember that, as with most health concerns, gut health is on a spectrum. On one end, you have a completely healthy, balanced gut and live symptom-free. On the other end, you have a leaky gut, a myriad of digestive issues and other symptoms, and potentially an active chronic illness.

The good news is, healing your gut will move you back down the spectrum. You’ll see improvements in your symptoms of leaky gut along the way. However, once you start to see signs leaky gut is healing, you may have setbacks or incidents that move you back up the spectrum. If this applies to you, then you’ll need to work your way back down again to repair your leaky gut.

In order to repair your leaky gut, you must be very intentional about what you are and aren’t eating. Fruits, vegetables, lean protein, and fermented foods are in. Sugars, processed foods, and alcohol are out. This can be easier said than done on your own. 

No worries! Lucky for you, I can offer support for your leaky gut journey. Read on to learn about how my Leaky Gut Breakthrough® Kit can help you. 

How The Leaky Gut Breakthrough® Kit Can Help

As we’ve discussed, a leaky gut can really disrupt your life. If left untreated, you could develop a myriad of unfortunate conditions including autoimmune disease. The Leaky Gut Breakthrough® Kit contains the four powerful nutritional supplements I recommend for optimal gut barrier and immune function. You’ve got this!

  • Leaky Gut Revive® is a powerful combination of important amino acids and botanicals. These help promote your body’s intestinal tissue repair mechanisms, repair damage caused by inflammation, restore your gut’s healthy mucosal membrane, and maintain a healthy gut barrier.
  • The Myers Way® Collagen Protein contains key amino acids needed for tissue repair. It helps maintain a healthy intestinal barrier. It also supports healthy bones and joints! It’s sourced from grass-fed, pasture-raised beef and is 100% non-GMO and kosher.
  • My Complete Enzymes formula supports optimal digestion and nutrient absorption. It also assists the body’s intestinal repair and inflammation response mechanisms.
  • Finally, my Probiotic Capsules 100 Billion is a potent, fourteen-strain probiotic totaling 100 billion CFU’s per capsule for maximum digestive health and immune support.

If you want to take it one step further, try my Leaky Gut Breakthrough® Program. You’ll get all the supplements in the Leaky Gut Breakthrough® Kit and a 30-day meal plan with recipes and shopping lists. This makes following the plan easy and stress-free!

The Final Word on Signs Leaky Gut Is Healing

It’s important to remember your gut didn’t become leaky overnight. Chances are it results from years of exposure to inflammatory foods, toxins, and other stressors. These stressors cause your gut lining to become compromised, leading to inflammation.

It took some time to get to that point, so it will take work to repair the damage. Eventually, you’ll start to see signs leaky gut is healing — such as digestive issues improving, skin problems clearing up, or food sensitivities disappearing. However, it may not happen right away. 

That’s why it’s important to be patient with yourself and stick to your gut-repairing protocol. My Leaky Gut Breakthrough® Program can help you get there. This 30-day guide gives you day-by-day guidance, including a meal plan with recipes — no guesswork here!

In addition, all the supplements in the program are available in my Leaky Gut Breakthrough® Kit. Trust me — this commitment to your health will be worth it. Stick with it, and before long, you'll be feeling better than before!