Uncovering The Truth About 4 Common Gut-Health Trends…
Have you tried every gut-health or digestive trend under the sun? Ya know, putting apple cider vinegar in your lemon water in the morning thinking it’s doing wonders for you? Or taking “beauty” supplements with hydrochloric acid in them? Well sadly, so have I! And after learning what I have learned from reading the gut-health chapter in Medical Medium and discovering the dangers of the most popular gut-health trends, I couldn’t keep this info from you any longer!
Top 4 most popular gut-health trends I’ll be debunking:
Hydrochloric acid supplements
Apple cider vinegar
Diatomaceous clay
Fermented foods
First things first
The first step to addressing almost any gut-related issue is first by rebuilding your stomach’s hydrochloric acid supply and strengthening your digestive system.
What is hydrochloric acid & why is it good?
Our stomach naturally makes hydrochloric acid which helps with digestion. If you suffer from acid reflux, IBS or any other gut-related issue, a large part of that may be due to having very low levels of hydrochloric acid in your stomach lining, making it hard to properly digest and absorb critical nutrients from food.
Why hydrochloric acid supplements don’t work:
Many hydrochloric acid supplements (often found in collagen supplements) only offer one of the seven acids that make up our stomach’s digestive hydrochloric acid. Even worse, they can disrupt your stomach’s natural rebuilding of digestive fluids.
So how can you help rebuild your stomach’s very important hydrochloric acid levels naturally?
By drinking fresh plain celery juice (nothing added in) on an empty stomach every morning! A simple, but profound solution that will do WONDERS for your digestive system and help rebuild your stomach’s hydrochloric acid levels. Having low hydrochloric acid levels is often the cause of IBS and other inflammatory conditions and autoimmune diseases, and a diet too high in protein and fat (even plant-based proteins like nuts and seeds) can weaken your stomach’s hydrochloric acid levels.
Another solution to rebuilding your stomach’s hydrochloric acid is by drinking barley grass juice powder (2 tsp daily) mixed in your fav smoothie. I personally add this to my everyday detox green smoothie and it makes my smoothie thick & creamy.
2. Apple cider vinegar: (Adding ACV to hot lemon water every morning to “cleanse” your system or “boost metabolism.”)
Steer clear of the ACV myth! ACV certainly has it’s benefits externally and is the healthiest vinegar to consume compared to balsamic, white, or red wine vinegar, but it’s far from any kind of gut-health cure. You can still use ACV in small amounts like dressings, as long as it contains “the mother,” but know not to use it as the cure or aid to any gut health issue. And do not mix it in your morning lemon water (like I used to do on the daily), just keep your hot lemon water simple as is, without the vinegar.
3. Diatomaceous clay: (Mixing the clay powder in water/drinking daily)
Consuming diatomaceous clay doesn’t do a single useful thing for your gut. It can actually be quite dangerous for your health since it clings onto your intestinal tract and inhibits proper nutrient absorption. To put it frankly, I wouldn’t think for even a second about trying this, and I highly advise you stay far away from this trend.
4. Fermented foods: Not quite what they’re all cracked up to be, sadly.
The “probiotics” in fermented foods are not life giving, instead the bacteria in them thrive off dead things. The microorganisms found on living fruits and vegetables however, thrive on life, so they restore your gut since we are ALIVE. They have a life force that bacteria in fermented foods don’t have.
Popular fermented foods like kimchi, sauerkraut, or kombucha, breed bacteria from foods that are no longer alive, making them useless for your gut. If however, you like fermented foods (like I do), then it’s totally fine to keep enjoying them (as long as they aren’t causing you any trouble) but know that they aren’t actually doing anything extraordinarily good for your gut health.
This was mind blowing to me, since I’ve always praised fermented foods as the Boone to gut health. I also want to be clear with you and say that eating fermented foods such as sauerkraut will not harm you, but it’s also not helping you like so many people think it is. The fermented foods trend has been blown out of proportion to say the least, touting that fermented foods are full of beneficial probiotics. What people don’t know, is that these probiotics are not life giving, instead they feed off of the decay process/dead things, making them useless for our living bodies. I still enjoy eating beet sauerkraut with my nourish bowls and salads, but not for the health benefits, just for taste preference.
Where can I get all the life-giving probiotics then?
On fresh living foods!
“The special probiotics living on fresh raw fruits and veggies harbor energy from god and the sun, making them living high-vibrational foods full of gut-healing benefits” (William 247). A top source of living high-vibe foods include sprouts (Alfalfa, broccoli, clover, fenugreek, lentil, mustard, sunflower, kale, and other sprouts are amazing)! When these seeds are sprouted they turn into living micro-greens, teaming with beneficial bacteria that will help your gut thrive.
“A raw unwashed piece of kale straight from an organic garden, a handful of sprouts from a countertop kitchen garden, or a fresh organic apple plucked from the tree, outshines every single soil based or lab-created probiotic and fermented food available” (248).
Replenishing gut-flora with raw, organic, unwashed produce is how you TRULY restore gut health.
Organic apples from my grandpa’s garden :)