Patient after patient comes into the clinic with:

• Arthritis
• Fatigue
• Depression
• Diarrhea
• Constipation
• Chronic Pain
• Autoimmune disease
• Stressed
• Skin rashes
  

Many doctors will give antidepressants for the depressed person, laxatives for the constipated ones, pain killers for the chronic pain patients, anxiolytics for the stressed folks and steroids for the arthritis, skin rashes and autoimmune disease folks.

Patient walks out, pops the pill and the symptoms go away. Great.

The problem still exists folks. And you know what else? It's gets worse until you address it and repair it.

Addressing many illnesses/disesases/symptoms must begin in one spot:
Digestive health

An excellent doctor will back up even further and say:
Spritual Health

However, one must have properly functioning digestion even if it requires supplements before they can have proper spiritual health - in my eyes. That is a huge discussion...

Faulty digestion stems from a few causes with the main culprits of:

• antibiotic use
• stress
• diet consisting of sugar, refined carbs
• im hesitant to say parasites...but I will.
• Im hesitant because if the person's digestion was functioning well to begin with, the parasites would have a difficult time getting past the highly acidic stomach environment. Many folks have weak stomach acid leading to a parasite infection.

In order to properly gain a functioning digestive system, one must accomplish a few things first:

• chew foods very well as this makes it easier for digestive acids and enzymes to digest the food - and your saliva is step 1 in digestion
• eat more variety of foods - if you eat the same foods over and over again, you are likely to become intolerant to those foods. So buy more variety, learn more recipes.
• avoid dairy products - so many people are intolerant to these foods so in my mind, just give them up altogether. If one eats them seldomly, than that may be fine, but overall dairy is a monster causing illnesses and disease all over the world. Did cavemen suck on cow udders? I don't think so.
• eat complex carbohydrates such as quinoa, buckwheat, brown rice, wild rice, sweet potatoe with skin
• avoid drinking too much fluids during meals as they dilute stomach acids and enyzmes
• eat meals in a peaceful setting - not behind the wheel driving or during a business meeting as stress stops stomach acid from being secreted, bile from being released and pancreatic enzymes from being released.

Healing the gut to restore proper digestion with the above steps is quite effective. However, many people need a bit of supplemental support in order to reverse harmful bacteria and restore intestinal wall health.

Depending on what is going on internally in your intestines, the need for supplementation changes.

Some people don't have intestinal inflammation but they do have:

• belching after meals
• gas and bloating
• low appetite
• bad breath
• reflux
• anatacids don't seem to help

What may help are digestive acids and enzymes. If the acids and enzymes for some reason are not being produced by your digestive organs, the above symptoms may be present. Some people may benefit by taking a digestive supplement such as PanZyme or UltraGest. The difference between the two is PanZyme has some pancreatic enzyme support while UltraGest just has three different types of acid to stimulate digestion.

Supplements which decrease gut inflammation, provide nutrients for intestinal health, create a healthy home for healthy bacteria and provide healthy bacteria are what many people need.

Many naturopathic physicians use these products in order to restore gut health:

• BioInflammatory Powder: this decreases inflammation in the gut. Inflammation in the gut destroys the intestinal borders and causes food intolerances.
• Intestinal Repair Complex: this provides nutrients specific to intestinal health. Stopping inflammation is key but providing nutrients to restore health is vital as well.
  
• Synbiotic Intensive Acidophilus: this provides billions of healthy bacteria which will knock out the harmful bacteria. Harmful bacteria cause gas, bloating, nausea, head fog et al.
• Fish Oil: this decreases inflammation and increases cell membrane stability. Carlsons fish oil or Nordic Naturals is available everywhere and is high quailty.
  
• Vitamin D: this also decreases inflammation, enhances immune function and does so many other things researchers are still determining them all.
• UltraFiber Plus: this creates a healthy environment for the healthy bacteria to live in, binds the toxic gasses that harmful bacteria release and allow for healthy bowel movements.

While that is admittedly a ton of supplements, one does not have to be on all of them for that long. The BioInflammatory Powder is used for a couple months along side the Intestinal Repair Complex. The Synbiotic sachets are used for 1 week or two only. The fish oil is long term and the vitamin D is used during the winter and fall months. Ultra Fiber Plus is used during the harmful bacteria die off time and during the times when bowel movements are not achieved daily.

Once the intestinal health is improved, one can reduce those supplements and add in daily supplements which continue to support intestinal health. A favorite of mine and one I use every morning is Intestinal RejuvenX.

I use Intestinal RejuvenX in a smoothie every morning. Ever since I began using it, my digestion has improved significantly. The other bonus of this product is that it has 28 grams of protein per serving so blood sugar is balanced.

Remember, while you may be tempted to improve your adrenal glands with licorice root, increase your energy with caffeine, relieve your depression with 5-HTP, lose weight with hoodia, decrease you pain with Advil - it is not the long term solution.

Improving your digestive health is.

If you read this and begin to implement it, I believe you'll improve in some degree.

In health,
Ben