Heal Tight Junctions of the Gut

Article by Stefan Burns - Updated July 2022. Join the Wild Free Organic email newsletter!

Food and water are the two building blocks for the human body from which everything is made of. The digestive system is what takes food and water and turns the nutrients pulled from them into all the various cells, proteins, enzymes, and compounds that keep life going. In the process of digestion, the body decides what nutrients it wants and which it doesn’t, and it uses a variety of mechanisms to make those discriminations.

The cells that make up the outside surface of the intestines have in-between them what are known are tight junctions. Epithelial tight junctions maintain the intestinal barrier while regulating permeability of ions, nutrients, and water. The tight junctions are effectively where the cells of the intestine press up against each other, leaving no spaces for things to pass into the bloodstream without first going through the cells themselves.

Cross-section view of intestinal epithelial cells. In this depiction, tight junctions are tight and the cells are healthily pressed up against one another.

When the epithelial tight junctions of the gut are weakened and cells spread out, intestinal permeability is increased. Microbes and partially digested compounds that pass through these no-longer tight junctions can act as triggers for the development of intestinal and systemic diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), and Crohn’s Disease (1). A more general term for these conditions is leaky gut.

There are a few methods that have been investigated and found to be successful in healing tight junctions. Read how zinc, phytonutrients, bacteria, and dirt can help you heal your digestive system.

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Ready to Heal Your Gut?

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Holistic Gut Health Guide eBook

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Together the digestive system and microbiome are the foundation of health from which everything else is dependent on.

The Holistic Gut Health Guide contains all the information you need to identify and understand the gastrointestinal and microbiome problems you may have while also providing you the most effective natural methods you can use to heal your gut. No gut health problems are unsolvable, give yourself every possible advantage along your gut health journey by reading an implementing the advice shared in the Holistic Gut Health Guide.

Purchase

Some of the information in the Holistic Gut Health Guide isn’t common knowledge but when implemented it is highly effective in healing the gut and shifting the microbiome towards symbiosis. Give yourself every possible advantage along your gut health journey by reading an implementing the advice shared in the Holistic Gut Health Guide.

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Heal Tight Junctions with Zinc

Zinc deficiency is known to result in epithelial barrier leak in the GI tract (2, 3), though the exact methods of which are still unknown. In order to learn about about this symptom of zinc deficiency, researchers took colon epithelium (Caco-2) cells and measured the electrical resistance of the tight junctions before and after 7 days of zinc supplementation (4).

The zinc increased the electrical resistivity of the epithelial tight junctions by 61%, a good sign of a strong healthy gut. It was found that the the zinc-induced barrier tightening held true for small electrolyte ions but not for small non-electrolytes. More research is needed here, but increased permeability for non-electrolytes after zinc supplementation is not necessarily a bad thing. For example, during active transport of glucose from the gut to the bloodstream (such as after a meal), increased permeability is observed in intestinal epithelial cells. It has also been observed that zinc supplementation strengthens the lung epithelial cell barrier (5). There is a deep interaction between the digestive system, zinc, and the immune system.

Zinc supplementation tightens intestinal cell junctions yet also aids absorption of beneficial nutrients. To supplement with Zinc, it’s best to take it with copper at a 15:1 ratio, so as to avoid a copper deficiency (6).

I personally supplement with Jarrow Formula’s Zinc Balance supplement everyday which contains 15 mg of zinc and 1 mg copper, taken with a meal to avoid nausea. If you’re look for a natural food source, oysters are the way to go! Six medium oysters provide 32 mg of zinc and are packed with other micronutrients. The recommended RDA for men is 11 mg and 8 mg for women, but daily supplementation of zinc between 10 - 40 mg is safe.

Consume Flavonoids to Heal Tight Junctions

Flavonoids such as apigenin, genistein (soy phytoestrogen), quercetin (plant pigment), and epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG, green tea polyphenol) exert protective effects on the intestinal tight junction barrier (7). Besides these specific phytochemicals, eating a diet rich in organic fruits and vegetables is the cornerstone of a healthy diet and with consistency will transform gut health.

Genistein

Genistein was found in multiple studies to have a protective effect on the gut. Genistein ameliorate (improved upon) oxidative stress (8) that colon epithelium (Caco-2) cells were subjected too. Studies have also observed that genistein ameliorates the impairment of intestinal tight junction barrier function by inflammatory cytokines (9) and enteric bacteria (10). If you want to consume genistein for these protective gut effects, fermented soy products like natto and tempeh are the healthiest and most bioavailable.

Quercetin

Quercetin was recently investigated for it effects on intestinal tight junction health. When rats were fed a quercetin rich (1%) diet, intestinal tight junction function was enhanced through the increased assembly of important tight junction proteins (11). Quercetin is found in many fruits, vegetables, leaves, and grains, with red onions and kale containing appreciable amounts. Quercetin is also found in green tea.

Green Tea Catechins (EGCG)

EGCG is a polyphenol found in green tea well known for its positive anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant effects. When human intestinal T84 cells were exposed to a stressor, tight junction function was reduced but subsequent administration of EGCG completely reversed the changes (12). Related to the next section below, supplementation of EGCG to rats improved nutrient absorption from fats and proteins, which simultaneously reducing adipose tissue (13). It was found that in rats dietary EGCG positively affects the growth of certain species of gut microbiota partly responsible for regulating energy metabolism in the body through the production of short chain fatty acids in the colon. Store bought green tea is heavily oxidized and contaminated with herbicides, and therefore is not a good source of green tea catechins.

Pique Tea sells cold brew extracted and crystallized tea crystals which have up to 12x the antioxidants of normal green tea, and they are triple screened for hazardous compounds. For the most gut-healing polyphenols, I recommend their Sun Goddess Matcha or their Matcha Green Fasting Tea. A hot cup after a meal helps soothe the digestive system, and 2-3 cups a day during a green tea fast can heal the tight junctions of the gut very quickly. Use the coupon code WILDFREEORGANIC for 5% off at checkout.

Flavenoids and other plant polyphenols such as anthocyanins (found abundantly in elderberries) can have powerful beneficial effects on the gut. The best way to make sure you consume adequate amounts of these compounds is to eat a diet rich in organic vibrantly colored fruits and vegetables.

Take Care of the Microbiome

The human body contains 10x as many microbes within the body as human cells, and the interactions between our gut microbiome and digestive system can have profound impacts on health. A healthy gut contains an entire ecosystem of commensal (helpful) bacteria which work in unison with each other and the human gut to produce a safe stable environment for the absorption of nutrients.

It’s been shown that intestinal bacteria can help beneficially regulate tight junction permeability (14). For example, the molecule indole, secreted by commensal Escherichia coli increases epithelial tight-junction resistance, attenuating indicators of inflammation in the process (15). Indole also prohibits pathogenic E. coli movement, motility, and attachment to epithelial cells. Attachment of pathogenic bacteria to epithelial tight junctions is one of the main stressors the gut can experience (16, 17), and one of the best ways to fight pathogens is to maintain a strong healthy gut full of symbiotic bacteria.

A healthy diet that prioritizes organic unprocessed foods is a great way to build a healthy gut microbiome (18), and supplementing with probiotics has also been shown to be helpful in improving the microbiome (19).

I don’t use probiotics often as I prefer fermented foods, though I have taken probiotics extensively and have a couple recommendations. Thorne makes a great leaky gut supplement, Perma-Clear, which contains key probiotic strains while also adding gut boosters like ginger and L-Glutamine. Mixing probiotics with herbs or supplements like SCRAM for parasites is a great way to favorably shift the microbiome.

Heal Tight Junctions with Prehistoric Dirt

Interesting research has been performed on the effect a supplemental lignite extract had on the tight junctions of epithelial cells. Lignite is a soft, brown, combustible, sedimentary rock formed from naturally compressed peat which contains traces of plant structure and materials. It is believed these ancient plant materials have protective effects on the gut.

In one study (20), researchers cultured small bowel (IEC-6) and colon epithelium (Caco-2) cells, and then the lignite extract was administered to one group of each while the others were left as the controls for 12 hours. After 12 hours had elapsed, glyphosate, a herbicide more commonly known as Roundup and also a known gut disruptor (21), was applied to all groups.

The control groups showed a large degradation in cellular tight junctions from the application of glyphosate, while the lignite extract group nullified the effects of the glyphosate. Basically supplementing with a lignite extract was shown to increase epithelial tight junction strength, and when exposed to glyphosate, a known gut disruptor ubiquitous within the food supply, it nullified the harmful effects of the glyphosate.

In another study (22) with the same survey design, small bowel (IEC-6) and colon epithelium (Caco-2) cells were cultured. Half were left as a control and the other half were administered the same supplemental lignite extract. After 12 hours, researchers this time used gliadin, one of the main components of wheat gluten, to damage the tight junctions of the cells. Same as the glyphosate, the application of gliadin peptides severely damaged the tight junctions of the small bowel and colon cells, while the lignite extract nullified the effects.

After reading this lignite research, I bought a bottle of the same supplement used in the research, Restore, and supplemented with it fairly consistently for 2 months. This was back when I are much more gluten, and I noticed that supplementing with Restore helped my gut issues tremendously. Restore helps by binding to gluten, and also dangerous pesticides. You can get this same effect if you eat any food that contains microparticles of clay and silt such as salad greens, squash, beans, and lentils.

Knowing this, Restore can be kept on hand as a protective supplement for the occasionally dietary one-off. Restore your gut health.

Heal Tight Junctions, Heal the Digestive System

There is a lot of misinformation out there when it comes to healing digestive maladies. and it is very difficult to know who to trust, what to do, and how long healing your gut will take.

I have a predisposition for gut health problems. My mother had Crohns and my aunt’s side of the family has celiac disease. I’ve struggled with leaky gut, IBS, SIBO, food allergies, gluten intolerance, and fructose intolerance for years. It was a very long process guided by research, experimentation, and mindfulness before I began to see rapid health improvements and my digestive system healed. This whole process was set back by the lack of scientific data on the microbiome, a critical component of the digestive system. It had to be learned intuitively.

One of the biggest breakthroughs I made was when I discovered glyphosate and the terrible effects it has on your microbiome and epithelial tight junctions. Once I made a serious effort to reduce my glyphosate exposure, by not eating foods laden with glyphosate (wheat and non-organic GMO produce) my gut health improved remarkably, and afterwards switching to a flexitarian diet healed my gut completely. When the gut is healthy, the rest of the body is healthy, and I have seen numerous other health improvements from healing my gut, starting with my hormonal system.

Take it from me, one of the most important things you can do to heal your gut is to heal your epithelial tight junctions. The easiest way to accomplish that goal into your routine is with a regular cup of green tea. Each cup of polyphenols will scavenge for undesirables and help your body to process the toxins out. Matcha Green Tea is one of the most effective gut healers known, just mind the caffeine.

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Heal Your Gut Naturally

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Holistic Gut Health Guide eBook

Sale Price:$12.95 Original Price:$18.95

Purchase

If you read all the way here then it’s clear to me that you’re ready to do what it takes to finally restore your digestive system and gut microbiome back to healthy and optimal function.

I wrote the Holistic Gut Health Guide to help you accomplish exactly this! It contains all the information that you need to understand the gastrointestinal system, gut-brain axis, and microbiome in-depth, and the Holistic Gut Health Guide also educates you on the natural methods you can holistically use together like fasting and herbalism to transform your health from the inside out.

I’m so excited to be able to help you along your gut health and overall wellness journey with the Holistic Gut Health Guide! Please contact me with any questions you have and wishing you the best.

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Medical Disclaimer: All information, content, and material of this website is for informational purposes only and is not intended to serve as a substitute for the consultation, diagnosis, and/or medical treatment of a qualified physician or healthcare provider.

Disclosure: Wild Free Organic is a member of various affiliate programs and if a purchase is made through one of our affiliate links a small commission is received. This does not affect your purchase price. Visit our disclosure page for more information.

References

1. Lee SH. Intestinal permeability regulation by tight junction: implication on inflammatory bowel diseases. Intest Res. 2015;13(1):11-8.

2. Bao S, Knoell DL. Zinc modulates cytokine-induced lung epithelial cell barrier permeability. Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol. 2006;291(6):L1132-41.

3. Finamore A, Massimi M, Conti devirgiliis L, Mengheri E. Zinc deficiency induces membrane barrier damage and increases neutrophil transmigration in Caco-2 cells. J Nutr. 2008;138(9):1664-70.

4. Wang X, Valenzano MC, Mercado JM, Zurbach EP, Mullin JM. Zinc supplementation modifies tight junctions and alters barrier function of CACO-2 human intestinal epithelial layers. Dig Dis Sci. 2013;58(1):77-87.

5. Bao S, Knoell DL. Zinc modulates cytokine-induced lung epithelial cell barrier permeability. Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol. 2006;291(6):L1132-41.

6. Hoffman HN, Phyliky RL, Fleming CR. Zinc-induced copper deficiency. Gastroenterology. 1988;94(2):508-12.

7. Suzuki T, Hara H. Role of flavonoids in intestinal tight junction regulation. J Nutr Biochem. 2011;22(5):401-8.

8. Rao RK, Basuroy S, Rao VU, Karnaky KJ, Gupta A. Tyrosine phosphorylation and dissociation of occludin-ZO-1 and E-cadherin-beta-catenin complexes from the cytoskeleton by oxidative stress. Biochem J. 2002;368(Pt 2):471-81.

9. Wells CL, Jechorek RP, Kinneberg KM, Debol SM, Erlandsen SL. The isoflavone genistein inhibits internalization of enteric bacteria by cultured Caco-2 and HT-29 enterocytes. J Nutr. 1999;129(3):634-40.

10. Schmitz H, Fromm M, Bentzel CJ, et al. Tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFalpha) regulates the epithelial barrier in the human intestinal cell line HT-29/B6. J Cell Sci. 1999;112 ( Pt 1):137-46.

11. Suzuki T, Hara H. Quercetin enhances intestinal barrier function through the assembly of zonula [corrected] occludens-2, occludin, and claudin-1 and the expression of claudin-4 in Caco-2 cells. J Nutr. 2009;139(5):965-74.

12. Watson JL, Ansari S, Cameron H, Wang A, Akhtar M, Mckay DM. Green tea polyphenol (-)-epigallocatechin gallate blocks epithelial barrier dysfunction provoked by IFN-gamma but not by IL-4. Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol. 2004;287(5):G954-61.

13. Unno T, Sakuma M, Mitsuhashi S. Effect of dietary supplementation of (-)-epigallocatechin gallate on gut microbiota and biomarkers of colonic fermentation in rats. J Nutr Sci Vitaminol. 2014;60(3):213-9.

14. Ulluwishewa D, Anderson RC, Mcnabb WC, Moughan PJ, Wells JM, Roy NC. Regulation of tight junction permeability by intestinal bacteria and dietary components. J Nutr. 2011;141(5):769-76.

15. Bansal T, Alaniz RC, Wood TK, Jayaraman A. The bacterial signal indole increases epithelial-cell tight-junction resistance and attenuates indicators of inflammation. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2010;107(1):228-33.

16. Guttman JA, Samji FN, Li Y, Vogl AW, Finlay BB. Evidence that tight junctions are disrupted due to intimate bacterial contact and not inflammation during attaching and effacing pathogen infection in vivo. Infect Immun. 2006;74(11):6075-84.

17. Eichner M, Protze J, Piontek A, Krause G, Piontek J. Targeting and alteration of tight junctions by bacteria and their virulence factors such as Clostridium perfringens enterotoxin. Pflugers Arch. 2017;469(1):77-90.

18. De filippo C, Cavalieri D, Di paola M, et al. Impact of diet in shaping gut microbiota revealed by a comparative study in children from Europe and rural Africa. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2010;107(33):14691-6.

19. Hemarajata P, Versalovic J. Effects of probiotics on gut microbiota: mechanisms of intestinal immunomodulation and neuromodulation. Therap Adv Gastroenterol. 2013;6(1):39-51.

20. Gildea JJ, Roberts DA, Bush Z. Protective Effects of Lignite Extract Supplement on Intestinal Barrier Function in Glyphosate-Mediated Tight Junction Injury. J Clin Nutr Diet. 2017, 3:1.

21. Samsel A, Seneff S. Glyphosate, pathways to modern diseases II: Celiac sprue and gluten intolerance. Interdiscip Toxicol. 2013;6(4):159-84.

22. Gildea JJ, Roberts DA, Bush Z (2016) Protection against Gluten-mediated Tight Junction Injury with a Novel Lignite Extract Supplement. J Nutr Food Sci 6: 547.

Control Food Cravings with Fasting

Article by Stefan Burns - Updated December 2021. Join the Wild Free Organic email newsletter!

Fasting, that is, not consuming calories, is becoming increasingly popular, and for good reason. The incredible benefits of fasting are numerous, from extending lifespan (1) to curing diseases (2), and fasting is certainly a wellness tool everyone should learn to use properly in their quest for optimal health. Fasting has such powerful effects upon the body because it removes a key component to life, food. Basically the larger the lever you pull (water, sleep, food, sunlight, air quality, etc), the larger the potential effect, positive or negative.

When an organism starts to fast, cellular autophagy ramps up (3) and metabolism increases (4), and a whole host of other important bodily systems are adjusted in ways that boost longevity and promote health. Because fasting is free and requires little more than perseverance, water, and electrolytes (for extended multi-day fasts), it has a low barrier of entry for anyone to try, no matter how inexperienced. While extended multi-day fasting can be a powerful weight loss tool, a better approach for those new to fasting is to first start small with a 24 hour fast, and potentially experiment with longer fasts from their after consulting with their doctor.

Fasting for the sole purpose of losing weight can be incredibly successful, but with that success a misguided behavior may establish itself that the best way to maintain weight is to not eat. The best way to maintain a lean and healthy body is to be mindful of metabolism, not just choosing not to eat for 3 days every week. To be clear, fasting is a powerful tool and is best not used irresponsibly.

Hunger vs Cravings

During a 24 hour fast body fat is burned and the digestive system is partially healed and reset. For a first timer though, what is learned about the interaction between eating, psychology, and behavior is even more valuable. Fasting is a fantastic way to learn how to differentiate between two types of hunger everyone has experienced: Physiological hunger and psychological hunger (also known as cravings). A good example demonstrating the difference can be summarized with the following hypothetical conversation:

Rebecca - “Oh my god I’m so hungry! Hey Dave what should we have for dinner?”

Dave - “I’m ravenous too! How about we grab some burgers?”

Rebecca - “I’m not feeling burgers, does Mexican food work (cravings)?”

Dave - “Yeah sure I’ll eat anything (hunger)!”

Dave was experiencing physiological hunger. His body required calories, and anything would suffice. Rebecca on the other hand wasn’t physiologically hungry. If Rebecca was more aware of the difference between hunger and cravings in this instance, she might have decided to not eat again until she was actually hungry, therefore consuming less calories and likely maintaining a healthier body weight.

A 24 hour fast is a great way to learn the difference between cravings and hunger. Over the course of that 24 hours, the average person will usually experience food cravings a couple times because they are used to eating every day consistently. By remaining strict and continuing with the fast, it’s discovered that 10-30 minutes after the food craving first started that it subsides or disappears. Focus the mind on something else and completing a 24 hour fast is easy.

A 24 hour fast will also teach how the body becomes adapted to receiving food at regular intervals. Eat breakfast everyday at 7 am? Guaranteed your stomach starts growling everyday at 7 am or shortly afterwards. That signal isn’t necessarily a sign that you’re hungry, it’s just your stomach contracting via muscle memory as it’s used to processing food around that time. Muscle memory and psychological behaviors are often intertwined, and it’s easy to confuse a normal biologic process with a conjured up signal of “I’m super hungry right now”.

Fasting Resets the Microbiome

Schedule a 24 hour fast on a day where there will be little if any food temptations, and once a few 24 hour fasts have been successfully completed in that manner, do a 24+ hour fast on any random day where temptations of junk food may arise. Armed with the knowledge that you’ve already successfully completed a 24 hour fast, when food cravings are encountered because someone brought cake or donuts, you’ll be well equipped to handle the situation in order to successfully complete the 24 hour fast. If you slip up, simply refocus your willpower and try again! Once you’ve broke your fast with a healthy meal, follow these 3 digestion improving steps.

The 24 hour fast is a great tool to intuitively learn the difference between cravings and hunger, but it won’t make much of a dent on serious digestive health issues. A diseased gut is an inflammation machine, placing your body into a state of chronic inflammation which can result hundreds of known health issues which manifest in other parts of your body like the brain, skin, or other organs. Additionally, a weak gut leads to a weak immune system, as the gut is the bodies primary barrier which keeps pathogenic microbes out. Fasting can heal the digestive system and restore balance to the microbiome.

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Ready to Heal Your Gut?

sale

Holistic Gut Health Guide eBook

Sale Price:$12.95 Original Price:$18.95

Together the digestive system and microbiome are the foundation of health from which everything else is dependent on.

The Holistic Gut Health Guide contains all the information you need to identify and understand the gastrointestinal and microbiome problems you may have while also providing you the most effective natural methods you can use to heal your gut. No gut health problems are unsolvable, give yourself every possible advantage along your gut health journey by reading an implementing the advice shared in the Holistic Gut Health Guide.

Purchase

Some of the information in the Holistic Gut Health Guide isn’t common knowledge but when implemented it is highly effective in healing the gut and shifting the microbiome towards symbiosis. Give yourself every possible advantage along your gut health journey by reading an implementing the advice shared in the Holistic Gut Health Guide.

---

References

1. De cabo R, Carmona-gutierrez D, Bernier M, Hall MN, Madeo F. The search for antiaging interventions: from elixirs to fasting regimens. Cell. 2014;157(7):1515-26.

2. Documentary. The Science of Fasting. Directed by Sylvie Gilman and Thierry de Lestrade.

3. Jung CH, Ro SH, Cao J, Otto NM, Kim DH. mTOR regulation of autophagy. FEBS Lett. 2010;584(7):1287-95.

4. Knapik JJ, Meredith CN, Jones BH, Suek L, Young VR, Evans WJ. Influence of fasting on carbohydrate and fat metabolism during rest and exercise in men. J Appl Physiol. 1988;64(5):1923-9.

Medical Disclaimer: All information, content, and material of this website is for informational purposes only and is not intended to serve as a substitute for the consultation, diagnosis, and/or medical treatment of a qualified physician or healthcare provider.

Disclosure: Wild Free Organic is a member of various affiliate programs and if a purchase is made through one of our affiliate links a small commission is received. This does not affect your purchase price. Visit our disclosure page for more information.

Break Sugar Addiction by Avoid Added Sugars

Article by Stefan Burns - Updated December 2021. Join the Wild Free Organic email newsletter!

Being healthy and free from sickness, pain, and disease is as simple as consistently following and adhering to a collection of small healthy habits. Depending on your current state of health, becoming well can seem impossibly daunting, for one, where do you start? If you keep a lifestyle unchanged, but add one healthy habit, then wellness has been improved. To create a healthy habit, you must first be hyper-conscious of your actions until they become second nature, becoming a habit you do unconsciously. The hard part of being healthy isn’t following wellness habits, but rather forming the habits one at a time, and performing them long enough that they become second nature.

One of the most impactful wellness habits you develop is to kick a sugar addiction (1). Like other addictive chemicals, sugar is toxic (2), creates widespread inflammation in the body (3) when consumed in excess, shifts the microbiome to a less diversified pathogenic state (4), and desensitizes dopamine receptors (5). The average American consumes 10 times more sugar than 100 years ago; in 2017 this totaled 90.7 grams of added-sugar everyday (6).

For reference, Canada clocked in about 1/3 lower than the USA in 2017 at 58.5 grams per day (7), and the average per-capita added-sugar consumption for rural China in 2017 was only 3.75 grams. In India, Israel, and Russia, people on average consume 5.1, 14.5, and 20 grams of additional sugar per day respectively (8).

For most countries in the world, the processed food industry is driving the ever increasing consumption of sugar, and the health complications are piling up. Over-consumption of sugars together with other factors contributes to the current obesity epidemic

A healthy habit to form which would transform your life would be to kick a sugar addiction. Some sugar in a diet from natural foods and sugars is fine, but a strong effort should be made to avoid heavily processed added-sugars if true health and wellness is the goal.

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Symptoms and Complications of Sugar Addiction

Sugar addiction has many of the same symptoms of other common addictions like tobacco or opioids. When sugars are consumed, natural endogenous opioids get released. Outside the context of a healthy balanced diet, substantial parallels between sugar and drugs of abuse can be observed in behavior and brain neurochemistry.

Animal studies have shown sugar to be addictive than cocaine (9). You might be a sugar addict if you display any of the following behaviors:

Free yourself from the toxic behavioral influences of sugar

• You make excuses to consume more sugar.

• You make special trips to buy more sugar laden products

• You drink sugar sweetened beverages.

• You eat sugar dominant foods to breakfast.

• You reward yourself with a sweet for motivation or as a reward.

• You have a secret stash that you binge from when alone.

• You previously tried to stop eating sugar, and couldn’t.

Beyond these behavioral patterns, there are two types of symptoms when it comes to sugar addiction. There are symptoms present when actively feeding the sugar cycle, and there are the symptoms of sugar withdrawal.

Symptoms of Sugar Addiction

• Persistent brain fog

• Volatile swings in energy

• Intense cravings disguised as hunger

• Mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, ADHD

• Persistent fatigue

• Racing thoughts

• Strong sexual urges

• Regular foods like fruit and vegetables taste bland and dull

• Vehement denial of a sugar addition when questioned

• Being overweight or obese

Symptoms of Sugar Withdrawal

• Intense cravings

• Depression

• Fatigue

• Anxiety

• Nausea

• Irritability

• Altered sleep patterns

• Cognitive issues, brain fog

• Low blood sugar, dizziness

• Other symptoms associated with drug withdrawal

These symptoms themselves can cause serious complications towards everyday life, but there are more insidious long term health complications from being addicted to sugar.

When naturally occurring sugars are paired with a healthy dose of fiber, like with fruit and vegetables, overall the known negative health effects of sugar appear to be negligible. The issue with sugar is when it is consumed without fiber. When sugar is consumed in excess and without fiber, inflammation in the body rises dramatically. Inflammation is not the root cause of disease, but it is a complicating factor in 100+ diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer, mental health disease, and more. More sugar also means more cavities, so oral health and hygiene is also affected (10).

Chronic levels of inflammation keep the body in a state of fight-or-flight, with the now dominant sympathetic nervous system being out of balance with the rest-and-relax parasympathetic nervous system. This over activity places stress on all the major systems of the body such as the immune system, liver, digestive system, circulatory system, and more.

Besides being predisposed to 100’s of different chronic health ailments, chronic inflammation increases body fat storage and can lead to obesity. Obesity itself is another complicating health factor, and now what was one health issue became two.

We are what we eat, and sugar is toxic. We know excess sugar consumption leads to inflammation, obesity, and disease, but what is the step that sits in-between sugar consumption and chronic inflammation?

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Sugar and the Digestive System

After sugar is consumed, before it can supply energy to the body through the mechanisms of insulin transport, it needs to be digested. Different sugars have different chemical structures and therefore different rates of digestion and absorption. Sugar is a general term used for sweet-tasting soluble carbohydrates. There are simple sugars which composed of a single sugar molecule, or compound sugars, where two sugar compounds are connected together. Whether sugars are consumed as simplex, compound, or as a starch (a chain of many sugar compounds), the digestive system will break apart and hydrolyze carbohydrates into simple sugars for transport into the blood stream. Let’s examine the most commonly consumed simple sugars:

Monosaccharides

• Fructose - Fruit Sugar

• Glucose - The basic form of sugar used by the body

• Galactose - Present in milk

Disaccharides

• Sucrose - One fructose and Glucose sugar combined

• Lactose - One glucose and galactose sugar combined

• Maltose - Two glucose molecules combined

There are also alcohol sugars, polysaccharides (which are larger chains of sugars), artificial sugars, and many more. The chemistry of sugars is complex, but what is clear is that excess sugar consumption is dangerous, and it all starts with the gut.

The microbiome is the collection of symbiotic (helpful), commensal (indifferent), and pathogenic (bad) microorganisms that inhabit your gut. Your gut is technically “outside” of your body, and it contains 10x more organisms than cells in your body, over 100 trillion! When the microbiome is well diversified and balanced (containing primarily symbiotic organisms) food will digest best and qualitative health markers are improved across the board.

The villi connect the digestive, immune, and circulatory systems.

We know the body only transports simple sugars into the circulatory system by passive and active transport through the cell membranes of the finger-like villi structures of the gut. Fats, proteins, and carbs which are still too large for transport need to be broken down. This is where the microbiome plays a critical role in digestion. The chemical and mechanical processes of the digestive system help break down food into smaller pieces, and the microbiome performs the finishing touches breaking apart food into sufficiently small compounds.

When excess simple sugars are consumed, it becomes much easier for the microbiome to access the energy of the sugar first for their own survival needs rather than needing to break chemical bonds first. Over time, this can shift the balance of the microbiome, creating sugar craving microbes with a mind of their own. In order to keep their over-sized populations stable, an unbalanced microbiome will directly interact with the body and brain through the release of chemicals and neurotransmitters. The gut is the second brain of the body, and for many people it’s not under their control. This will manifest as the affectionately known “sweet tooth”.

With an unbalanced microbiome, issues like irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) or more serious complications like small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO), irritable bowel disease (IBD), and Crohn’s disease can arise. Considering the gut is the boundary between the barbarian (microbes) and gate keepers (epithelial cells), the immune system is most active at the gut. A compromised digestive system with failing tight junctions which lets microbes and undigested molecules slip into the bloodstream is the source of inflammation that sugar causes. Sugar without fiber or not existing in long polysaccharide chains is too easily accessed and used by the microbiome, shifting the balance towards pathogenic microbes. It is this easy access to cheap resources with no nutritional value beyond calories that compromises the integrity of the entire digestive system, leading to chronic inflammation, and therefore obesity and disease.

And there are other complicating factors. Where did the sugar come from? Depending on the plant a sugar ultimately derives from is very important. Modern agricultural practices use heavy amounts of herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides which contaminant everything they are sprayed on. These compounds have can take decades to break down. A GMO cane sugar will be genetically modified to survive when exposed to greater amounts of dangerous herbicides like glyphosate. Glyphosate is an effective herbicide because it interferes with the The shikimate pathway, an ancient seven-step metabolic pathway used by bacteria, archaea, fungi, algae, some protozoans, and plants for the biosynthesis of folates and some amino acids.

While the shikimate is not found innately in humans, it is found and utilized for the survival of our microbiome. Unless sugar is label organic, and even that can have its flaws, it is mostly likely contaminated with glyphosate and other compounds which interfere with the shikimate pathway and other similar metabolic processes. Consumption of this sugar will disrupt the growth of symbiotic microorganisms which might be content munching on fiber all day, and simultaneously fuel the growth of short-lived commensal and pathogenic microbes. Natural sources of sugar like honey are best because they are free or much less contaminated by these dangerous herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides.

When the food source is taken away from these overgrown and unbalanced microbiomes, microbes will release chemicals and neurotransmitters in an effort to acquire more resources (aka you need to eat some sugar NOW) while simultaneously having their population die-off in the wait for more resources. This die-off reaction can release built-up toxic compounds, stressing your gut and liver while you simultaneously experience volatile swings in energy as you’ve become insulin resistant and blood sugar levels have dropped dangerously low.

It’s a terrible health predicament that can be frightening to experience, but feeding the microbiome with more sugar will only make breaking the addiction harder or inevitably lead to the genesis of a deadly disease down the line.

Does your microbiome work for you, or against you?

There is no one living without a microbiome, a healthy microbiome is a critical component to living a healthy disease-free life. If conscious awareness isn’t given to the microbiome through a healthy, organic, unprocessed diet, the microbiome will make itself known to you, either physically, chemically, or behaviorally, demanding nutrients. Understanding the 100 trillion microorganisms that make up your microbiome is the the key to unlocking your health, and the first step towards breaking a sugar addiction.

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Now that we’ve laid everything out, lets formulate a strategy that best increases your chances to kick sugar while also reducing the negative health effects that will be experienced during the healing process.

How to Kick a Sugar Addiction

To kick a sugar addition, you need to be aware of what drives a sugar addicition, and how you can break the cycle. Below is a simplified version of the vicious cycle that can form when consuming excess sugar. To break an addition, there isn’t any one strategy that will work, you must first have the innate desire to be free of addiction, have the willpower and discipline to see it through, devote time, and have strategies developed for each step of the cycle. Relapse can occur at any of the stages, so preparation is required for each stage.

In preparation for the following sugar reset, your environment must be made to be conductive to change. Follow the steps below first:

1. Eliminate all sugar from the household. This means throwing out all sweets, treats, desserts, sources of simple carbohydrates, etc.

2. Make a list of your favorite sugar pit stops (convenience markets, coffee shops) and blacklist them, vowing to not visit them again.

3. Practice saying no. Other people might offer you sugar-rich or other unhealthy foods during this reset, rehearse your line and practice saying no in order to avoid temptation, such as: “No thank you John, I am currently working to break my addiction to sugar”. The more truthful and to the point your words are, the less others will try to convince you that taking a bite or having one small treat isn’t a big deal.

4. Identify your trigger foods. Tracking your diet, mood, and energy in a journal for a week before starting the reset will help you identify your trigger foods that must be completely avoided during the reset.

5. Develop a plan for how you will drink 1 gallon of filtered water a day. Tap water containing fluoride kills microbes, so for the microbiome to survive more sugar is required, and they will release neurotransmitters for this. Filtered or spring water is pure and free of chemicals.

Once the steps above have been taking, find a 7 day chuck of time in your schedule which is expected to be lower stress. Breaking a sugar addiction takes longer than seven days, but the first week accomplished 80% of the work. Stress triggers sugar cravings, so to increase the chance of success this should be scheduled around a time period of low stress.

The fastest and most painless way to get the ball rolling is to start this week long period with a 24 hour fast, that is no eating from dinner on day to dinner the next. Unless you’re in a state of serious health complications, a 24 hour is safe and achievable by anyone to do. A 48 hour fast is even better as it takes you right to the edge of ketosis (fat only metabolism), but this can be trickier for those really dependent on sugar for their energy levels.

Fasting simultaneously does the following:

• Improves blood sugar levels

• Sensitizes insulin

• Kills off an overactive microbiome

• Reduces inflammation

• Heals the digestive system

• Burns body fat

Fasting promotes health in the exact opposite ways sugar addiction promotes disease. Fasting is a powerful wellness methodology. Fasting also removes many of the questions “like what should I eat instead” and removes analysis paralysis; there are only two objects, don’t eat and drink water! If you carry significant levels of body fat, an every other day strategy for fasting has been shown to be highly effective in breaking the sugar cycle, improving microbiome diversity, and lowering body fat.

An every other day 24 hour fasting schedule would look like this:

• Day 1 fasting, drinking only water (1 gallon recommended)

• Day 2 refeed with organic fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, minimally processed grains, animal protein

• Day 3 fasting

• Day 4 refeed

• Repeat

If you do this, expect body fat to melt off as it is used to cover your energy needs throughout the week. Blood sugar, lipid, and insulin markers will improve, energy levels will stabilize, mood will brighten, and sleep will improve. Fasting is the “rip the band-aid” off approach. It’s the most effective and ultimately causes less pain and suffering in the long run, but can be nerve racking to start.

If you think you’ll be more comfortable with a gradual approach, then the first step is to cut out the main offenders. This means cutting out sugar and all sweetened beverages, desserts like cookies and ice cream, and bread products, anything that contains almost exclusively sugar.

Even if you just stop drinking soda, that has a huge impact over time! According to the CDC, 5 out of 10 adults and 6 out of 10 youth drink a sugar sweetened beverage at least once a day. This equates to on average an extra 145 calories for both adults and youth consumed everyday, with one 12 oz soda containing 39 grams of sugar, double than the upper limit we recommend of 20 grams.

If you’re overweight and carry an unhealthy amount of body fat, then either replacing 1 soda a day with water over the course of a month reduce your caloric consumption by 4200 calories, or 1.2 lbs of fat. Over the course of a year of no soda, that equals 14.4 lbs of fat gone.

Once the main sugar offenders have been removed from your diet, you’ll want to replace them when the cravings hit with healthy fats and fiber rich foods.

Foods Containing Healthy Fats

• Avocado

• Nuts - walnuts, almonds, cashews, pecans,

  pistachios

• Seeds - pumpkin, sunflower, chia, flax, etc

• Animal Fats (grass-fed) - butter, ghee, cream, cheese

• Eggs (pasture raised) - chicken, quail

• Cacao (fair trade) - Dark Chocolate 70% +

• Oils (cold pressed) - olive oil, coconut oil, red palm oil, avocado oil

Foods the contain both healthy fats and fiber:

• avocado, nuts, seeds, olives, coconut, and cacao

Foods Containing Fiber

• Squash - butternut, winter, zucchini

• Seeds - pumpkin, sunflower, chia, flax, cacao

• Nuts - almonds, cashews, walnuts, pecans, pistachios

• Legumes - beans, lentils, peas, chickpeas, peanuts

• Fruits - such as avocado, pear, jackfruit, berries, mango, banana, papaya, coconut, guava, kiwi, etc

• Vegetables - carrots, eggplant, jalepeno, tomato, artichoke, cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli, sweet potato, radish, etc

• Dark Leafy Greens - spinach, lettuce, swiss chard, mustard, etc

• Grains - quinoa, popcorn, oats, black/brown/red rice,

As you can see, there are plenty of delicious foods which contain fiber and fats, excellent additions to any diet. All of the foods above are also micronutrient dense, and a sugar based diet is lacking in critical vitamins and minerals, the deficit of which can have massive health implications.

Homemade Raw Trail Mix

• 1/4 cup Almonds

• 1/2 cup Cashews

• 1/4 cup Walnuts

• 1/4 cup Pecans

• 1/2 cup Pumpkin Seeds

• 1/2 cup 70% Mini Dark Chocolate Chips

In your purse, bag, or on your person, keep a bag of raw trail mix with you. When a sugar craving hits, unless you’re in the middle of a fast, a few handfuls of trail mix is a nice healthy treat that will keep you satiated and content. Right now do not be concerned about calories.

Make sure to buy nuts and seeds which are raw. Raw foods are those that aren’t heated for pasteurization, and eating raw foods helps diversify your microbiome. Raw foods also contain higher levels of vitamins and minerals since the heat didn’t break them down.

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Building your Fat Metabolism

A sugar dependent diet is skewed heavily towards carbohydrate metabolism for energy. Carbohydrate metabolism isn’t necessarily bad in and of itself, but often the carbohydrate metabolic cycle will be overdeveloped and out of balance with fat metabolism. The metabolism of fat for energy, either from food or body fat, provides longer lasting and more sustainable energy levels. Having a well-functioning fat metabolism fills in energy dips that are experienced when eating carbs. By stabilizing your energy levels, fats will help keep you calm and emotionally stable, reducing your chance of giving into temptation and reaching for that sugary treat when your sugar starved microbiome and low blood sugar levels are saying you need it most.

Fatty acid metabolism can be improved by eating a diet higher in fats for an extended period of time, or more quickly through a ketogenic diet. A ketogenic diet is a very low carb diet where the body has to produce ketones for use by the brain. The brain exclusively runs on simple sugars or ketones for energy. Since a ketogenic diet is <5% carbs and 70% of greater fat macronutrient wise, it will very quickly improve your ability to metabolize fatty acids. Be aware that you might initially experience what is known as keto flu. Keto flu is a set of flu like symptoms that people first transistioning to a ketogenic diet might experience. The same smptoms can be expereinced during longer duration fasts too as the body as enters ketosis 36-48 hours after fasting has begun.

The digestive system is the seat of power for the immune system, and there is a removal of sugar & nutrients, a die off reaction will occur and many diseased microbes will die. Now these microbes are diseased waste that need to be expelled by the body, causing immune symptoms until this occurs. If tight junctions of the intestines are compromised, then some of these dead microbes will filter into the blood stream and cause an immune response, hence flu-like symptoms can be experienced. If you wish to avoid these flu-like symptoms during the start of fasting or ketogenic diet, then it is important that the tight junctions of the body are healed and have no gaps that undigested food or microbes can exploit to enter into the blood stream. It’s also been shown that glyphosate damages tight junctions, so be mindful of that information. I wrote a guide on how to heal tight junctions naturally with four methods. Luckily the digestive system regenerates very quickly, so even just following those recommended steps for one or two weeks before kicking your sugar addiciton will greatly reduce your risk of experiencing flu-like symptoms when resetting your microbiome and metabolic systems.

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Quit Sugar Quick Start Guide

Putting everything discussed into practice, below is a quick start guide with actionable steps you can follow to kick your sugar addiction, balance your microbiome, heal your digestive system, and build your fat metabolism.

1. Week 1 - Keep a food and mood journey for 1 week. This will help you identify your trigger foods which need to be blacklisted

2. Clean your Environment - Remove all junk food, sugar, and treats from your home, work, and car.

3. Practice Saying No - Be honest, and formulate a game plan for your first 7-14 days sugar free.

4. Prepare - Stock up and buy the healthy organic foods you require to be healthy and successful with this important health endeavor. Figure out your plan on how to drink 1 gallon of water daily (24 oz wakeup, 84 oz day, 24 oz bedtime)

5. Week 2 - Commit to one of the two dietary strategies listed above. Either do a 24 hour fast every other day, or keep a baggie of raw trail mix with you at all times for those moments when cravings strike.

6. Week 3 - The hardest part is over, continue with your wellness schedule. If fasting, you can ease up from the every other schedule and do two 24 hour fast every week instead. Keep eating whole unprocessed organic foods!

7. Week 4 and Beyond - It takes four weeks to create a habit, congratulations! Kicking a sugar addiction is a major accomplishment and over time your body will heal from the damage created by the consumption of added sugars. Now is not the time to relapse, stay disciplined!

If you’ve made it 30 days without added sugars, congratulations! At this point you might be tempted to experiment with “moderation” and have a bite of your favorite treat again, do not do this! Physiological addictions can be broken in a few weeks, but psychological addictions can take months or years to erase. The mind is a powerful thing, and overtime you’ll discover your old definition of moderation was not in fact moderation. By this point your taste buds will have changed, and sugary treats you once found delicious might now be revolting. Trust your instincts and give yourself the time needed to heal from that traumatic period of your life. Ask yourself, what was feeding my sugar addiction? Examine your emotions and look inwards. Food is often the cover for emotional turmoil, and true healing won’t occur until emotional healing can take place.

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References

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3. Aeberli I, Gerber PA, Hochuli M, et al. Low to moderate sugar-sweetened beverage consumption impairs glucose and lipid metabolism and promotes inflammation in healthy young men: a randomized controlled trial. Am J Clin Nutr. 2011;94(2):479-85.

4. Di rienzi SC, Britton RA. Adaptation of the Gut Microbiota to Modern Dietary Sugars and Sweeteners. Adv Nutr. 2020;11(3):616-629.

5. Gene-Jack Wang, Et al. High sugar intake linked to low dopamine release in insulin resistant patients. Stony Brook University

6. Sugar and Sweeteners Yearbook Tables. USDA.

7. Consumption of Sugars in Canada. Canadian Sugar Institute.

8. Roberto A. Ferdman. Where people around the world eat the most sugar and fat. The Washinton Post

9. Shah SGS. A Commentary on "Ensuring safe surgical care across resource settings via surgical outcomes data & quality improvement initiatives" (Int J Surg 2019 Aug 5. https://doi.org/ 10.1016/j.ijsu.2019.07.036). Int J Surg. 2019;72:14-15.

10. Moynihan PJ, Kelly SA. Effect on caries of restricting sugars intake: systematic review to inform WHO guidelines. J Dent Res. 2014;93(1):8-18.