Eat for Life: Naturally maintaining my gut

We often are more reactive than proactive and we tend to want miracle cures.  I decided to change my diet from being reactive to proactive and one of the major changes is the diligent inclusion of turmeric and ginger, roselle probiotics and virgin coconut oil in my diet.  This combination provides a wealth of health benefits but in a proactive measure, one of the main ones that I want is the care and maintenance for my gut.  I have done a lot of research on this and will continue to follow developments from both the medical world as well as the alternative holistic therapies.
Our gut is the biggest immune organ in our body with the main function of processing our food and removing toxins.  It is basically our digestive tract.  Over the last few years, more and more information has been disseminated regarding a condition called leaky gut.  A leaky gut causes allergens and toxins as well as bacteria and viruses to enter out bloodstream leading to many illnesses including infections to other organs like the brain, heart, kidney and others, allergies and autoimmune.  The symptoms are many and is often misdiagnosed resulting in our medical treatment addressing the symptoms but not the condition.   Some of the symptoms are:

1.  allergies
2. infections to various organs and within the body
3. body aches and pains
4. bloating
5. cramps

The symptoms and manifestation of the problem is common enough that the treatment is often for the symptom and not addressing the underlying issue.

Some of the causes are:

1. age
2. gluten
3. antibiotics
4. food additives
5. carcinogens

How to avoid a leaky gut?  Easy but can be difficult to do for some: take care of your gut and prevent the lining from breaking down or having holes.  Basically, one needs to take care of what one consumes.  A healthy gut has good digestive tract walls and good bacteria.  As we age, our body will breakdown and need repairing so similar to having a car, one needs to do maintenance.  Some repairs here and there, replacing what is worn down, etc.

In my proactive mode, I have added 3 items which not only is good for my gut health but also contains other health benefits:

1. Bentong ginger and turmeric with black pepper
2. Roselle probiotics
3. Extra virgin coconut oil

These 3 items promotes the repair work, addressing the symptoms with its anti-bacterial, anti-viral and anti inflammation properties and then continues to promote the health of my gut with the probiotics and "cleaning" activities.  They are simple to add to my daily diet and doesn't require major changes to my routine and readily available.  I am a firm believer that if we cannot make something a normal thing to do, it will be hard to remain diligent and sustain it as a normal course in our life.  Whilst some of this are available in pill forms, a few factors make it less desirable:

• I do not know what is added during the process to convert it from natural state to pill or capsule
• The cost is higher than the natural state
• While it may be convenient, over a period of time, I will become bored and lazy to pop the pills and ultimately, just stop doing it
• There is no fun in pill popping - there is no enjoyment in consuming it and it becomes a to-do task as opposed to something I do normally

My focus has always been on organic and local so that it is easily available and affordable.  After all, if it is expensive that it is out of reach to the masses.  As with everything you consume, do find out about the source of what you consume and that it is natural, organically grown without hormones as well as additives-free and this includes preservatives, sugar, colouring.