I can’t say it enough: health (and illness) starts in your gut.

If your gut isn’t healthy, you can suffer everything from unexplained weight gain to depression to autoimmune disorders. Way too many of us are faced with these ailments and a host of others simply because our intestines are in bad shape. Our lives are hectic, our standard American diet (SAD) is bad, and we’re paying the price.

But it’s never too late, or too hard, to make things better — for our guts and, by extension, for the rest of our body as well.

So I want to give you my in-a-nutshell version of how to quickly begin resetting your gut. These are my eight simple steps that will help you start healing within just a few days:

1. Get the toxins and irritating substances out of your diet. That means limiting or (better yet) eliminating:

• Alcohol
• Caffeine
• Conventionally raised meats (unlike pastured or grass-fed meats, these are high in omega-6 oils, the overconsumption of which can lead to inflammatory disease)
• Grains
• Processed foods
• Refined sugars
• Seed oils (these, too, are high in omega-6 oils)

2. Start eating lots of fermented foods! Options such as raw milk yogurt and kefir, sauerkraut, and kimchi are rich in probiotics, which repopulate your intestines with the good bacteria needed for optimal digestion and health.

3. Take a powerful probiotic. In addition to fermented foods, take probiotics in pill form to flood your system with good bacteria such as lactobacillus acidophilus and bifidobacterium lactis. You really can’t get enough of these, especially when you’re resetting.

4. Don’t take antibiotics (unless you really, really, really have to). Antibiotics are the opposite of probiotics. They kill off healthy gut flora. And in the past doctors have prescribed them way too readily. If you’ve spent significant time on antibiotics, then you definitely need this reset!

5. Eat a bowl of bone broth at least once a day. Bone broth offers incredible intestinal healing power and disease prevention.

6. Take a multi-enzyme supplement (preferably one after every meal). Digestive enzymes break down the foods we eat so we can absorb the nutrients. But things like aging, chronic stress, and inflammation can decrease our digestive enzymes, causing us to lack the nutrition we need. Taking a supplement that provides enzymes such as carbohydrases (break down carbohydrates), lipases (break down fats), and proteases (break down proteins) helps your body continue absorbing nutrients.

7. Consider natural gut-healers too. Options include:

• Aloe vera
• Vitamins A, C, and E
• L-glutamine
• Omega-3 fatty acids

8. Develop a daily relaxation practice. Stress can seriously contribute to damaging your gut. Think about it…aren’t your stomach and your digestion two of the first things that get affected when you go through an emotionally difficult time? (Incidentally, your gut is where the majority of your body’s serotonin resides, and it’s sometimes referred to as the “second brain.”)  To counteract the stress of living, give yoga and/or meditation a try.

All of the suggestions here would be beneficial for just about anyone, though the length of time it takes to reset your gut really depends on your specific health challenges. If you’re in good shape already, you’ll likely feel better very quickly. If you’re having serious health challenges, it may take longer, and you should consult with your healthcare practitioner to tailor the reset to your specific needs.

But no matter what your health is like right now, remember that healing starts in your gut — and when you do a reset, miraculous things happen!

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Note: PLEASE consult with  your doctor before making any changes to your diet or medications. The material on this site is provided for educational purposes only, and is not to be used for medical advice, diagnosis or treatment.