#17 Heal the Gut Heal the Mind

Learn about healing and sealing a leaky gut with MEAT STOCK - this is different than bone broth and if you have a leaky gut you should NOT be consuming bone broth.

What IS a leaky gut?
Get my Meat Stock recipe HERE
GAPS
Monica Corrado - The GAPS Chef
GAPS Cooking Techniques

Meaty Bones:
Beef, bison: shanks, soup bones, short ribs, meaty neck bones. 
Lamb: shanks, meaty neck bones. 
Pork: hocks (not smoked), meaty neck bones, ribs. 
Chicken or other small fowl: whole bird cut up or legs and thighs with all skin and fat, or backs, necks, and wings or a combo of all. 
Turkey: thighs, legs, necks, or wings or combo. 

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SUMMARY KEYWORDS

leaky gut, gut, heal, bone broth, meat, people, gaps diet, stock, homeopathy, cultured dairy, symptoms, eat, buy, healing, talking, diet, good, cut, hydrochloric acid, food

SPEAKERS

Bri Hurlburt, Melissa Crenshaw

Bri Hurlburt  00:00

 Welcome to homeopathy at home with Melissa. It's Bri here again with Melissa. Today we're talking about something that I think a lot of you listeners will be able to relate to. You probably are dealing with some of these things or know somebody who is, even if you're not aware of it. We are going to talk about the leaky gut and how to heal it for long term health and healing. We'll talk about some common questions related to leaky gut and then some remedies for it.

Melissa Crenshaw  00:34

Sounds good. I'm super excited again today to be with you, Bri. What I want to do here is help people in all of these episodes, but especially right now. We're talking about food! People tend to get overwhelmed when they start thinking about food - what they can and can't eat, what they shouldn't shouldn't eat, etc. Sometimes they feel condemned. They eat Doritos and feel like they can't tell anyone about it!

01:05

Like that's their guilty pleasure.

Melissa Crenshaw  01:06

Yeah, and I don't like that. I don't like that at all. A long time ago, I went down the road of stressing out about food and I'm past that. I'm not going back. So what I want to help people do is avoid the stressful road of the perfect diet and all the rabbit holes that you can fall down when you start researching stuff. I want you to start small and slow, and you're going to get there. It's not all or nothing. We're talking about baby steps every episode!

Bri Hurlburt  01:41

I think you're right, though, that it can be very overwhelming. I remember being overwhelmed. When you start down the rabbit hole of healthy living in general, but especially with food, it feels impossible and you don't know where to start. So I think this is a good reminder.

Melissa Crenshaw  01:59

What we're going to talk about today, in my opinion, is a great place to start. It's simple, inexpensive, and can move you towards healing and sealing a leaky gut.

Bri Hurlburt  02:15

Okay, so maybe we should start with talking about what a leaky gut is because that  sounds really weird and kind of gross for someone who's never heard that term. I think the word gut also is not the most flattering word. So tell us what a leaky gut is!

Melissa Crenshaw  02:43

I love Dr. Axe and I think that he has good information for the most part. He recommends a lot of supplements and things that I don't recommend, but his information is good. So I'm going to link that in the show notes. A leaky gut is intestinal permeability. Permeability is something that's porous; things can go through it. The lining of your gut, your intestinal wall, is supposed to protect or stop harmful particles from entering into your bloodstream. If it's damaged, or leaky, then little tiny particles get into your bloodstream from the food that you eat. Think of it like scraping your knee. You fall down, you scrape your knee, and it heals because you protect it - you clean the wound and do all the things to protect it so that it can heal. Every time we eat certain foods with a leaky gut, it's like going and scraping your knee over and over and over again before it's had time to heal.

Bri Hurlburt  03:56

So maybe something that wouldn't normally bother a healthy gut does affect a leaky gut just because it's not totally closed off? Because they're open and those things can now enter the bloodstream?

Melissa Crenshaw  04:12

That's right. It's got these little cuts all in it, so to speak. That's the other thing. I talked about this all the time, that eliminating foods from the diet doesn't heal anything. Your food list of intolerances is going to continue to grow. But what we're talking about today and what you're going to do to start healing your gut is you're going to cut out some of those things with the goal of reintroducing them - at least the good ones. You know, we can have a little bit of sugar but like me as a kid and teenage and 20s, I way over did it. Of course that damaged my gut. I was literally addicted to sugar.

Bri Hurlburt  05:03

Where do antibiotics play a role in this? Or will we get to that? Do those create a leaky gut or just destroy the bacteria in your gut? Both?

Melissa Crenshaw  05:15

Maybe both. I haven't researched how an antibiotic maybe causes a leaky gut, but I'm sure it contributes to it because it kills all the good guys it kills. That's going to be part of what we talk about, too. We have to have those good guys in our diet, the good bacteria. Leaky gut can cause and lead to autoimmune diseases. If you have autoimmune diseases, you need to heal your gut.

Bri Hurlburt  05:46

I think my understanding of that connection was, your body has these layers to your immune system that prevents things from getting in too far. So once it gets in through your nose, or your mouth or whatever and gets to your gut, that lining is supposed to keep those irritable things out, or pathogens out. When there are holes and they get into your bloodstream, your body attacks those things as harmful even if they aren't. It's just because they are not supposed to be where they are in your body.

Melissa Crenshaw  06:18

That's right, exactly.

Bri Hurlburt  06:20

That's why it becomes autoimmune?

Melissa Crenshaw  06:23

YWell, yeah. I mean, we aren't experts on that but yes, sounds right.

Bri Hurlburt  06:29

I have to really talk myself through things to figure out.," How does that make sense to me?" Okay, so what are the symptoms of a leaky gut?

Melissa Crenshaw  06:39

In this article that I'm gonna link is where I got this list from Dr. Axe. Gastric ulcers, infectious diarrhea, IBS, which is irritable bowel syndrome. Inflammatory bowel disease, like Crohn's and ulcerative colitis. Small intestine bacterial overgrowth, which most people recognize as SIBO, celiac disease, esophageal and colorectal cancer, allergies, respiratory infections, acute inflammation conditions like sepsis, SARS, multiple organ failure, chronic inflammation, inflammatory conditions, such as arthritis, thyroid disorders. Obesity related metabolic diseases like fatty liver, type two diabetes, heart disease. Autoimmune diseases like lupus, multiple sclerosis, type one diabetes, hashimotos, and more. Parkinson's disease, chronic fatigue syndrome, and the propensity towards weight gain or obesity. Who does not suffer from one of these?!

Bri Hurlburt  07:49

I mean, even just when you think about fatigue, like feeling tired. I don't even think people realize how abnormally tired they might be. We think it's normal. I know we are not professionals in this and not experts on leaky gut, but I have read some research about leaky gut being connected to mental disorders as well. Like ADHD or like depression and things like that. Don't go and diagnose yourself, but it's maybe something to consider.

Melissa Crenshaw  08:27

Yeah. Well, that's where the GAPS diet came from is the is the gut and psychological syndrome. That's right.

Bri Hurlburt  08:35

Yeah, that's right. Okay, that's probably where I connected that. 

Melissa Crenshaw  08:40

Leaky gut may not be a diagnosis that we can use in homeopathy, it's too broad. You saw that with all those symptoms; all those things that could mean you have a leaky gut. There's not just one remedy or one protocol, or even a small group of remedies or protocols for leaky gut. You can't do a chronic consult with me and say, "I have leaky gut." I'm going to ask you all kinds of questions, because I need to know, "How is that? How are your symptoms presenting?" That's how we're going to use homeopathy to heal it.

Bri Hurlburt  09:17

Today we're talking about homeopathy treating the symptoms of a leaky gut. Then we'll get into some ways to help leaky gut with your food. Not separately, but together.

Melissa Crenshaw  09:32

Absolutely. I do believe you can totally heal your leaky gut with just food. Absolutely. But homeopathy, I believe, can come along and expedite the process and help you through some of the die off symptoms that you might have while you're healing. 

Bri Hurlburt  09:50

Oh, that's true, too. I hadn't thought about that. So how do you heal it?

Melissa Crenshaw  09:57

What I help people with and what I suggest in my chronic consults if they have a gut issue is meat stock. I love the GAPS diet, which means no sugars or grains until healed. Whether or not you do the gaps diet, I would cut out sugar and grains until you're healed. Add lots of fermented foods, cultured dairy, and then of course homeopathy.

Bri Hurlburt  10:24

Okay, so maybe for somebody new to clarify a couple of those terms - is meat stock the same as bone broth?

Melissa Crenshaw  10:31

No, and I get that all the time. Most people interchange those two terms and they are completely different. We really need to get this straight because bone broth is not going to be good for a person with leaky gut. This might be the first time a lot of people are hearing this and you've been over here drinking bone broth thinking you're healing your gut. Bone broth doesn't heal the gut.

Bri Hurlburt  10:56

What is bone broth good for? 

Melissa Crenshaw  11:01

Okay, so meat stock and bone broth promote the secretion of hydrochloric acid in the stomach where it's needed to break down proteins. Insufficient hydrochloric acid can lead to a whole host of symptoms including acid reflux, skin disorders, anemia, osteoporosis, rheumatoid arthritis, asthma, alkalinity, food allergies, and a lot more. Most Americans have insufficient hydrochloric acid. Bone broth comes along after your gut is healed with the meat stock with a high glutamic acid, which can trigger nervous system symptoms if the gut is not healed yet. So we need to do the meat stock to heal the gut so that you don't trigger these nervous system symptoms with the bone broth.

Bri Hurlburt  11:56

Okay, so what does meat stock have in it that is better for healing a leaky gut?

Melissa Crenshaw  12:02

What I am what I'm learning from and who I'm learning from is Monica Corrado. She is the GAPS chef, dubbed by Dr. Natasha Campbell McBride. I'm working one on one with Monica Corrado, and she's helping me learn these cooking techniques. 

Bri Hurlburt  12:21

That's really cool!

Melissa Crenshaw  12:22

I am giving you good information, right? She is the GAPS chef, and I'm gonna have her on the show soon. We're getting it scheduled.

Bri Hurlburt  12:30

That is gonna be fun!

Melissa Crenshaw  12:32

She's gonna go into detail about all this stuff that I'm just learning. I'm getting my information from her book called Cooking Techniques for GAPS Diet. In that book, she says that the gelatin and amino acids in meat stock heal the gut lining, also known as the lining of the small intestine, specifically the duodenum. Meat stock is low in glutamic acid. This is important because people sensitive to MSG may experience nervous system symptoms from high levels of glutamic acid and free glutamates. if the gut is not yet healed. Meat stock heals the gut, allowing one to advance to further healing.

Bri Hurlburt  13:17

So good. Okay. Another thing you mentioned above, and this might be going off on a little bit of a tangent, but it was cultured dairy. Can you give some examples of what in the world that is to somebody who never has heard that before? Is that yogurt or what do you mean by that?

Melissa Crenshaw  13:42

Yes. It can be yogurt, kefir, or creme fresh, etc.

Bri Hurlburt  13:58

Okay, that is good to know. Because I don't always know what qualifies as cultured dairy or if there's certain types I should be buying.

Melissa Crenshaw  14:07

Yeah, and then cultured butter. When the dairy is cultured, it has the probiotics in it that are good for healing the gut. So you can make creme fresh, of course, and you can make yogurt. These are the things that Monica is teaching me. She's taught me how to make creme fresh. She taught me how to make cultured butter. So I went and bought raw milk and raw cream and made these things myself. All I'm doing right now is taking a teaspoon of creme fresh each day, and it gets the good guys in. It takes the place of probiotic capsules.

Bri Hurlburt  14:45

Does it have to be from raw dairy?

Melissa Crenshaw  14:48

It's better to be from raw dairy, but it doesn't have to be. If you can't get raw dairy, then get the best that you can get. Definitely organic, hopefully grass fed and free range.

Bri Hurlburt  15:04

Is this a place where you would recommend taking a probiotic? I guess it's not really a supplement, but maybe a capsule, in tandem with these things are in place of any of these things?

Melissa Crenshaw  15:15

I would say if you cannot get or handle or do the cultured dairy and the fermented foods, then the probiotics are to take the place of that. If you're doing fermented foods and cultured dairy, you don't need probiotics. You're gonna get plenty in the food that you're eating.

Bri Hurlburt  15:36

Okay, good to know. So back to meat stock, then. How do you make meat stock? Or can you buy that?

Melissa Crenshaw  15:46

That's a great question. When I suggest meat stock to people, they often get it confused with bone broth, then I find out that they've been drinking bone broth that they usually bought. Everybody knows you can make bone broth with the bones in the water and apple cider vinegar. Sometimes they don't have time and buy bone broth, but I do not believe that you can buy meat stock. I could be wrong about that. It's not just chicken broth. If you see chicken broth on the shelf, it's not the same.

Bri Hurlburt  16:24

Even chicken stock doesn't mean that it's meat stock, it's just more concentrated broth?

Melissa Crenshaw  16:30

Well, I think that what you buy in the store just doesn't have the fat content that you need. Meat stock is meat, bones and skin - you need that fat. That fat is what's helping to heal the gut, along with the the gelatin hydrochloric acid. There are all kinds of things in the meat stock. To make it, you're getting a whole chicken - the best, highest quality you can get - and cutting it all up. You can also use beef or lamb or other meat, as long as they're meaty bones, they have to have meat and skin. You can even use fish.

Bri Hurlburt  17:02

So a chicken is probably easiest, because it's easier to have access to a whole chicken with all the parts.

Melissa Crenshaw  17:08

That's right, and you can buy it cut up in the store. As long as it's just the best highest quality chicken you can get. I get the whole chicken and cut it up. We need to expose those joints, so we cut it in a certain way. Monica teaches how to cut it up in her book. You can even break where the joints are so that you expose those joints. You're going to put the whole chicken in the pot - one quart of water per pound of chicken - then you add good salt. I like Redmond Real Salt. There are other good salts, you just really need to make sure it's a good sea salt that doesn't have anti caking agents or any other junk in it. You need to use good water, of course, don't be using city tap water. Then carrots, peppercorns, garlic. Chop up one whole head of garlic. Whole onion and ginger. I chop up a good big chunk of ginger and put it in there too.

Bri Hurlburt  18:14

No celery or other vegetables? Sounds like you're making some good chicken soup!

Melissa Crenshaw  18:20

It is! When you're finished, if you don't want to just drink the stock, you can make a soup out of it. Absolutely. You can eat the meat, too, of course. If you're doing GAPS diet, you can't eat the celery in the intro part, so that's why I don't use it. You can absolutely put celery in there if you want to. When you've refrigerated it, it's got this fat ring sitting at the top that you don't see in storebought chicken broth. Embrace that!

Bri Hurlburt  18:47

That is true. I have bought and made some, and there's a big difference. I was making bone broth, though, and that even does have more fat. I can't even imagine how much fat is on meat stock.

Melissa Crenshaw  18:59

Yeah. The other thing just to know about meat stock is there's no vinegar; we're not putting vinegar in the meat stock. That's just for the bone broth.

Bri Hurlburt  19:07

Yeah. Okay. This is all great information. So, what are some good remedies to take as you're dealing with symptoms of leaky gut, while maybe making some of these diet changes?

Melissa Crenshaw  19:23

If you're dealing with constipation, Nux Vomica 200 twice a day is a really good one. So is Plumbum 200. Twice a day.

Bri Hurlburt  19:38

That one always makes me laugh!

Melissa Crenshaw  19:40

I know, right? It's really called Plumbum! Both of those are great for constipation or diarrhea. If diarrhea is your symptom, you're going with Arsenicum Album 200 as needed. If you're having heartburn, you can do Nat Phos 6x as needed, or 15 minutes before each meal if you pretty much always get indigestion after your meals. If you have gas and bloating, because not everybody has both, then Lycopodium 200 mixed with Arsenicum 3x twice a day. That could also be 3c. Those two together, twice a day would be great for gas and bloating. If you just have bloating, then Lycopodium 200 is going to be great for that. If you're dealing with indigestion, heartburn, belching, you could think about Lycopodium 200, and Iris Ver 200. Another idea for food intolerance, especially with nausea and vomiting, would be Ipecac 30. And Merc Sulph 6 twice a day. You could also, along with that, use Bovisa 200 twice a day or every other day. Bovista is really good at uprooting those gluten intolerances and lots of different food intolerances. If it's really just a milk intolerance that you have, then Aethusa 200 every three days is good at that. Some people deal with worms, so Cina and Calc Carb. You can always do Calc Carb 200 every other day for all kinds of allergies and food intolerances. Those are some remedies that really our gut healing and can help. You know, though, there's this thing called obstacle to cure. You can't go on and eat McDonald's every single day and just take remedies and think that you're gonna fix it. We have to look at the diet, but we don't have to stress out about it and make it a focus of our life. Right? We focus on Jesus, we look at the little things, we try to make some diet changes here and there whenever we can, but you can't just trash diet and eat whatever you want.

Bri Hurlburt  22:12

Right. I mean, that would take forever to truly heal. This can make a big difference in the meantime, though, in mood and energy levels, even if you're still dealing with long term allergies, right? That's all really good, though. It's good to remember that stress can contribute to your general health, also. It's a good reminder to do what you need to do, and then give the rest to the Lord and trust him and let it go. 

Melissa Crenshaw  22:41

Do what you can do. That's right. Man, that's so good. If we don't have our focus on Him, things are gonna bother us or push us over the edge. We're gonna get offended. Oh, man, we got a whole other podcast about offense and being defensive!

Bri Hurlburt  22:57

Oh yeah.

Melissa Crenshaw  22:59

We got to keep our focus on Him and then all this other stuff comes somewhere down the line.

Bri Hurlburt  23:05

Well, this was super helpful for me. I know that a lot of people will be able to benefit from this. Thank you all for joining us today. All this information is in the show notes. We will see you again in a couple weeks.

Melissa Crenshaw  23:19

Thank you guys. Thanks for listening. Have a great day!