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Digestive Disorders

digestive disorders

Nearly three-quarters of your immune system is in your gut. If you have a digestive system that is making you uncomfortable or bowels that are up in arms, it’s not just your gastrointestinal system you have to worry about, it’s your overall well-being. When your digestive system is compromised, you’re more susceptible to immune-related illnesses and other afflictions, including arthritis, skin problems, allergies, asthma, fibromyalgia, headaches, anxiety and depression, and more.

To help your body heal and free itself from disease, the holistic digestive health specialists at Ann Arbor Holistic Health address all digestive disorders including:

  • Acid Reflux
  • Allergies
  • Celiac Disease
  • Constipation
  • Crohn’s Disease
  • Diarrhea
  • Gastritis
  • Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
  • Leaky Gut
  • Ulcerative Colitis

Digestive disorders typically fall into the categories explored below.

Food Sensitivities

Food allergies, sensitivities, or intolerances are usually acquired over time because of lifestyle, environment, diet, or a combination of the three. Identifying that you are suffering from a food sensitivity is the first step to developing the right treatment. Warning signs of food allergies include:

  • Aching joints or a backache
  • Bloating, nausea, diarrhea, constipation, flatulence
  • Chronic respiratory conditions
  • Chronic skin problems
  • Clumsiness
  • Food cravings or addictions
  • Frequent headaches
  • Gradual weight change
  • Miscarriage or infertility
  • Mouth ulcers
  • Tiredness and lack of energy
  • Yeast infections

Food allergies to nuts, dairy, wheat, soy, eggs, and fish are common. When food or other proteins cross the intestinal wall, this causes an allergy and elicits an undesirable immune response.

Food sensitivities are usually your body’s reaction to food or food additives like sulfites, aspartame, MSG, yellow dye 3, and preservatives like BHT and BHA.

A food intolerance is a digestive irritation that occurs when your digestive system is irritated by food but it does not affect the immune system. Rather, you experience gas, bloating, cramps, and diarrhea.

Gluten Intolerance

You may feel like every other person you know has a gluten problem that they’re trying to combat with different nutritional choices and diets, but their gluten intolerance is not just a buzzword. Chances are, most of them aren’t jumping on the bandwagon of this “popular” condition – they’re noticing that their body works better without gluten in it, and they feel better.

Gluten is found in all forms of wheat, barley, and rye, from semolina to couscous, faro to oats. Breads, pastas, and other starches that contain these grains can be a serious problem for people who have a sensitivity or intolerance to gluten.

Non-celiac gluten sensitivity is the condition wherein gluten adversely affects the body, most often in the digestive tract. Gluten intolerance is when the ingestion of gluten in any form causes the body to have a stress response. For 60% of people, gluten intolerance does not present as a digestive issue but rather masquerades as thyroid problems, chronic fatigue, migraines, skin disorders, numbness or tingling in the extremities, fertility problems, or auto-immune disorders.

A gluten intolerance can easily be misdiagnosed.

Celiac Disease

Celiac disease is a permanent intolerance to gluten that is an inherited autoimmune disorder and elicits a strong immune response from the body. Five to 10% of people have a gene marker for celiac disease but the problem occurs in the minority of people who are gluten intolerant.

Celiac disease is set apart from a gluten intolerance or sensitivity because it causes severe inflammation that can damage the small intestine. Even though you may test negative for celiac disease, that does not mean you can tolerate gluten.

Digestion and Nutrition

It’s easy to succumb to the busyness of life and allow your diet to suffer in the process. But what you eat affects how your body works and whether it is strong enough to prevent disease and heal itself.

When your body can no longer handle the kind of fuel you’re giving it and compensates for the overload of the wrong foods or the lack of good foods, negative symptoms arise – some obvious, others not. Your body will suffer in one way or another, however; a compromised digestive system also means a compromised immune system.

The enzyme nutrition process determines the nutrients your body is lacking so you can restore your health and resolve your symptoms. It’s a simple act of improving your digestive system with supplements, diet changes, and exercise goals. Good health is a lifestyle, and you can live it.

Candida

An overgrowth of candida in the digestive tract can cause serious health problems including gastrointestinal problems, of course, but also mood disorders, chronic fatigue, sinus infections, and recurring UTIs or vaginal yeast infections. Leaky gut is a serious consequence of candidiasis where the intestinal wall becomes permeable and allows proteins and toxins into the body. Diets high in refined sugars, alcohol, and antibiotics all increase the likelihood of candida overgrowth but enzyme nutrition and lifestyle adjustments can reverse your body’s revolt.

Suspect You Have a Digestive Disorder?

At Ann Arbor Holistic Health in Ann Arbor, we diagnose your symptoms, address your digestive disorders at their core through an individualized care plan, and help you live a better life.

Our process of healing is the four Rs: Remove, Replace, Reinoculate, and Repair. Through comprehensive allergy testing, we discover what’s negatively affecting your body and formulate a treatment strategy to heal your digestive system and mediate your food allergies and sensitivities.

Contact us today to schedule a comprehensive nutritional evaluation. It’s time to resolve your symptoms and restore your health. Allow your body to heal. Allow us to help you get there.