Category Archives: Gut health

I am reading The Pegan Diet by Mark Hyman, MD. The author also actually had c-diff. He notes, “I was down for the count for five months and couldn’t work, focus, or even answer an email. I lost 30 pounds.” Sounds familiar. It ultimately left him with ulcerative colitis long-term, so it was a long road back to health during which he learned a lot about the microbiome and healing the gut. Also sounds familiar.

From the chapter on gut health:

➡️ “Sadly, our gut microbiome ain’t what it used to be. We eat gut-busting foods, live a gut-busting lifestyle, and take gut-busting drugs.”

➡️ “Want to grow toxic weeds in your gut? Feed them a processed diet high in sugar and starch, food additives, and the microbiome-destroying weed killer glyphosate, used on 70 percent of all crops.”

➡️ “Our diet is also low in food for the good bugs: prebiotic fibers and polyphe nols (all the colorful medicinal compounds in plant foods).”

➡️ “We also take too many gut-damaging antibiotics, acid blockers, anti-inflammatories like Advil, hormones, and steroids. Add to that environmental toxins from our food, air, and water, and our inner garden is a sorry place with too many disease-causing bugs and not enough healing bugs.”

He offers three steps to resolving gut problems: weed, seed, and feed. Luckily, that’s exactly what I did and have been doing post-treatment, and after 7 months, I’m not totally healed, but I’m definitely significantly better. So today I am #grateful for all the health lessons I’ve learned since getting so sick; better health as a result; and the opportunity to continue to improve and grown in good health. #Healing2021 #operationrecovery

We know that prebiotics are good for gut health because they’re what our good bacteria eat. And they need to eat to be strong to fight off bad bacteria like c-diff. But…prebiotics help with anxiety too! At least according to this study: “A new study has found that 4-weeks of daily galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS) prebiotic intake can reduce anxiety levels and result in an overall improvement in wellbeing in young women.” Of course, we know from experience that c-diff affects us mentally as well as physically.

As many of you know, I prefer to get my pro and prebiotics from food naturally, rather than from supplements. I don’t know of this research would translate to that. The supplement in this study is galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS). GOS are made up of plant sugars linked in chains. They are found naturally in dairy products (no, thank you!), beans (yes!), and certain root vegetables (double yes!). I’ve eaten beans and root veggies throughout my recovery. Turns out maybe they’re good for gut and mental health!

Note: WebMD did offer a warning for those with autoimmune diseases, since GOS (as a supplemet) can kick up the immune system, it may have some negative effects. Also, if used medicinally, it can have side effects no c-diff survivor wants, like gas, bloating, and even diarrhea (also WebMD). It’s kind of why I like to stick to foods instead of supplements. We benefit from the other nutrients that surround them when we get them from food: it’s like “a spoonful of sugar,” it helps make the medicine go down. 😉