Gut and Intestinal Health

Dr. Jimenez Gut and Intestinal Health Functional Medicine Team. The health of an individual’s gut determines what nutrients are absorbed along with what toxins, allergens, and microbes are kept out. It is directly linked to the health of the whole body. Intestinal health could be defined as optimal digestion, absorption, and assimilation of food.  But this is a job that depends on many other factors. More than 100 million Americans have digestive problems. Two of the top-selling drugs in America are for digestive problems, and they run in the billions. There are more than 200 over-the-counter (OTC) remedies for digestive disorders. And these can and do create additional digestive problems.

If an individual’s digestion is not working properly, the first thing is to understand what is sending the gut out-of-balance in the first place.

• A low-fiber, high-sugar, processed, nutrient-poor, high-calorie diet causes all the wrong bacteria and yeast to grow in the gut and damages the delicate ecosystem in your intestines.

• Overuse of medications that damage the gut or block normal digestive function, i.e., acid blockers (Prilosec, Nexium, etc.), anti-inflammatory medication (aspirin, Advil, and Aleve), antibiotics, steroids, and hormones.

• Undetected gluten intolerance, celiac disease, or low-grade food allergies to foods such as dairy, eggs, or corn.

• Chronic low-grade infections or gut imbalances with overgrowth of bacteria in the small intestine, yeast overgrowth, parasites.

• Toxins like mercury and mold toxins damage the gut.

• Lack of adequate digestive enzyme function from acid-blocking medications or zinc deficiency.

• Stress can alter the gut’s nervous system, cause a leaky gut, and change the normal bacteria.

Visits for intestinal disorders are among the most common trips to primary care doctors. Most, which also includes most doctors, do not recognize or know that digestive problems wreak havoc in the entire body. This leads to allergies, arthritis, autoimmune disease, rashes, acne, chronic fatigue, mood disorders, autism, dementia, cancer, and more.

Having proper gut and intestinal health is absolutely central to your health. It is connected to everything that happens in the body.

General Disclaimer *

The information herein is not intended to replace a one-on-one relationship with a qualified healthcare professional or licensed physician and is not medical advice. We encourage you to make your own health care decisions based on your research and partnership with a qualified health care professional. Our information scope is limited to chiropractic, musculoskeletal, physical medicines, wellness, sensitive health issues, functional medicine articles, topics, and discussions. We provide and present clinical collaboration with specialists from a wide array of disciplines. Each specialist is governed by their professional scope of practice and their jurisdiction of licensure. We use functional health & wellness protocols to treat and support care for the injuries or disorders of the musculoskeletal system. Our videos, posts, topics, subjects, and insights cover clinical matters, issues, and topics that relate to and support, directly or indirectly, our clinical scope of practice.* Our office has made a reasonable attempt to provide supportive citations and has identified the relevant research study or studies supporting our posts. We provide copies of supporting research studies available to regulatory boards and the public upon request.

We understand that we cover matters that require an additional explanation of how it may assist in a particular care plan or treatment protocol; therefore, to further discuss the subject matter above, please feel free to ask Dr. Alex Jimenez or contact us at 915-850-0900.

Dr. Alex Jimenez DC, MSACP, CCST, IFMCP*, CIFM*, ATN*

email: coach@elpasofunctionalmedicine.com

Licensed in: Texas & New Mexico*