Eat Dirt. Finished 8-2-19, 4.5/5, health, 327 pages, pub. 2016

To keep us in good health, our gut relies on maintaining a symbiotic relationship with trillions of microorganisms that live in our digestive tract. When our digestive system is out of whack, serious health problems can manifest and our intestinal walls can develop microscopic holes, allowing undigested food particles, bacteria, and toxins to seep into the bloodstream. This condition is known as leaky gut syndrome.

In Eat Dirt, Dr. Josh Axe explains that what we regard as modern “improvements” to our food supply—including refrigeration, sanitation, and modified grains—have damaged our intestinal health. In fact, the same organisms in soil that allow plants and animals to flourish are the ones we need for gut health. In Eat Dirt, Dr. Axe explains that it’s essential to get a little “dirty” in our daily lives in order to support our gut bacteria and prevent leaky gut syndrome. Dr. Axe offers simple ways to get these needed microbes, from incorporating local honey and bee pollen into your diet to forgoing hand sanitizers and even ingesting a little probiotic-rich soil.  from Goodreads

Leaky Gut (also known as increased intestinal permeability, is a digestive condition in which bacteria and toxins are able to “leak” through the intestinal wall) is not a new term to me.  Any autism mom who has investigated causes or treatments will have invariably come in contact with the condition.  This book does a great job of explaining what it is and how you can help heal.  Again, much of this was familiar, but he did a nice job of laying it out and organizing the steps you can take to improve your health.

The way in which we live and eat does great damage to our guts and in turn, our brains.  While Dr. Axe focuses on the food and supplement aspect he also addresses the other culprits harming our bodies.  He educates on essential oils (something I’ve never felt comfortable delving into), but more importantly, provides recipes on how you can make your own home and personal cleaning products relatively easily.  If that sounds like too much he also give tips on what to look out for when purchasing everything from shampoo to laundry detergent.

The 5 steps to healing your gut? Remove, reseed, restore, release, reseal.  The food recommendations are not easy, but having spent so many years reading on this I feel like his recommendations can be game changers for some people and he provides an organized plan of getting it done.

More people suffer from leaky gut than most realize.  As a matter of fact, most people suffer from leaky gut without even realizing it.  If you have any kind of autoimmune issue I would recommend taking a look at this.  And why not eat a little dirt? 🙂