Digestive Health

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Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine once stated that death sits in the bowels and that bad digestion is the root of all evil. Today, we know that our digestive system has it’s own nervous system, the stomach can hold up to 4 pounds of food, the small and large intestines are roughly 28 feet long, 75% of our immune system is located within our guts and there are more bacteria in our guts than cells in the whole body.

The digestive system is responsible for taking in nutrients, absorbing nutrients, and eliminating waste. The system is very complex, and balance can sometimes be hard to attain. Sleep, stress, diet, supplements, exercise, and environment can all impact digestion.

CONCERNS

  1. Gas
  2. Bloating
  3. Constipation
  4. Diarrhea
  5. Heart burn
  6. Abdominal pain
  7. Food sensitivities
  8. Food allergies
  9. Nausea
  10. Vomiting
  11. Crohn’s disease
  12. Ulcerative Colitis
  13. IBS
  14. Lactose Intolerance
  15. Celiac Disease
  16. SIBO
  17. Hemorrhoids

CONCERNS RELATED TO POOR GUT HEALTH

  1. Acne, eczema and other skin concerns
  2. joint pain
  3. auto-immune conditions
  4. generalized fatigue and pain
  5. digestive concerns
  6. brain fog
  7. mood disorders
  8. weight gain
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Naturopathic Approach

A Naturopathic approach to digestive concerns is highly individualized. Treatment consists for 4 parts; Remove, Replace, Re-inoculate and Repair.

Remove: The first step is to remove aggravating foods, pathogens, and inflammatory triggers like stress, and excessive alcohol. Specific foods are removed via a general elimination diet or specialized elimination diet which is determined by food allergy and food sensitivity testing.

Replace: The next step is to replace inflammatory foods with anti-inflammatory foods, functional foods and dietary nutrients which help reduce inflammation and support optimal gut health.

Reinoculate: Step three is to reinoculate the microbiome with evidenced based, and diverse probiotics through supplementation and fermented foods. Probiotics can help produce vitamins, anti-microbial compounds and influence gut macrobiota diversity and function.

Repair: The final step involves repairing the gut lining with foods, nutrients and herbs that decrease inflammation and intestinal permeability.

Testing:

  • Basic blood work
  • Food sensitivity testing
  • Comprehensive digestive testing
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How it Works

Treatments

Dietary Modifications 1

Dietary modifications

Functional Foods

functional foods

Supplements

supplements

Botanicals

botanicals

Stress Reduction

stress reduction

Sleep Optimization

sleep optimization

Physical Activity

physical activity

Collaborative Care

collaborative care

2

FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

Naturopathic Doctors (ND’s) are medically trained but naturally focused. ND’s undergo 8 years of post secondary school, including 4 years of rigorous education at a credited Naturopath school. We offer blood testing and more comprehensive functional testing. Our modalities consist of Lifestyle changes (stress reduction, sleep optimization, dietary changes, movement/exercise), supplements & botanicals, IV therapy, vitamin injections, and acupuncture.

You will receive a treatment plan after the first session and then we’ll modify as needed from there. Everyone’s situation is unique and some people notice a significant difference after a few sessions and for others it takes a bit longer. The quicker we can identify the root cause, the quicker you’ll see results.

There are four guiding principles at this clinic. Educate, Assess, Simplify and Individualize. Our goal is to simply the experience and treatment as much as possible. We try our best to decrease your pill burden as much as possible. You will be recommended supplements and/or botanicals but we’ll try our best to keep them to a minimum. Although, we can see significant improvement from dietary and lifestyle changes, supplements can give additional benefit.

Not necessarily! We can experiment with an elimination diet or run a food allergy and/or sensitivity test to determine if these foods are bothering you. We can also manage digestive concerns without removing specific foods. Although, in some cases, removing foods can be very helpful. It all depends on the issue and what the root cause is.

The digestive system is very complex and there are many factors that contribute to a healthy digestive system. Diet is one of many. Sleep, stress, movement, timing of food, other conditions/symptoms and supplements/botanicals can also effect the functioning of the gastrointestinal system. As ND’s we take a comprehensive intake and assess using blood work, food sensitivity tests and other functional testing to identify the root cause of your concerns.

Absolutely, healthy digestion along with metabolic and hormone health can influence many factors that can contribute to weight gain or weight loss. Some of these include, bloating, constipation, inflammation, blood sugar control, thyroid health and more.

Often times, patient notice an improvement in skin concerns like acne and eczema once their digestive system starts functioning better. Interestingly, there is something called the “gut-skin axis” which shows an association between the microbiome dysbiosis (bacteria imbalance), diet and skin concerns. The body is interconnected in many ways so it makes sense that one organ system can influence another.

It really depends on your concerns, budget and personal choice. A ND can guide you on appropriate testing, costs and expectations. Some commonly used tests include, basic blood work, food allergy/sensitivity testing, and comprehensive stool testing.

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