What Causes (and Fixes) Leaky Gut | Dr. Daniel Amen

happy Friday night week 15 pandemic pandemonium oh my goodness what a week this has been I've been thinking about all of you and what information I could bring that would give you some comfort some calm and you know I'm sort of known as the brain doctor because I look at people's brains it's endlessly interesting but what I want to talk about tonight is something that most people never think about but it's really another world that lives inside you that in many ways controls you and if you don't get this world right if you don't support it you are very likely to not feel well and not get well so tonight we're gonna talk about the one secret that steals your mind that very few people actually know about well hello from Japan and Oahu one of my favorite places these coasts where it's late as I love seed this thank you for showing up and I know if you look at the news and just remember what I tell you the news is not the news the news is to get you upset and so they lead with oh my goodness the World Health Organization says the world is out of control uncovered is enough course it's increasing because they're testing like crazy what I want you to look at hospitalizations hospital capacity and total deaths and the total deaths really peaked in the u.s. in the middle of April and has been steadily declining since then and there's all this hoopla and Texas my daughter's actually in Texas looking at schools and I think they had 33 desk yesterday which is not good right any death is bad but in Sweden for example that didn't do the stay-at-home orders they reported today their deaths are the same as they usually are this time of year so that's another statistic you want to keep in mind but you know I call this thing pandemic cubed kovin 19 which then the stay-at-home orders the economic devastation the fear drove the second pandemic which was the mental health pandemic which is skyrocketing I've never seen anything like it in my 40-year career as a psychiatrist never seen anything like it the incidence of suicides of anxiety of panic attacks of depression of just feeling emotionally edgy irritable and worn out so if someone says cases are important but you have to have you have to compare it to something and I remember when the pandemic started people couldn't get tests my sister who was with my parents who were both diagnosed with in nineteen my sister went to the same hospital that wouldn't pester and so I would argue it's not cases hospitalizations hospital capacity and deaths so but let's not fuss with each other so pandemic - pandemic mental health pandemic leading to societal disruption after the killing of George Floyd so because of the mental health pandemic we were sitting on a massive box of tinder just waiting for somebody to throw a spark in it and the pandemonium the protests the riots and much of it for a good cause just exploded which then took people's anxiety to a completely new level and we are living with that and so so what's the secret what's the other world that dr. Raymond's talking about it's your gut bugs I know gut bugs what it's called your microbiome I call them friends with benefits so did you know that your gut has often been labeled your second brain that there's actually a direct connection from your brain to your gut I remember 16 years ago I went through a period of grief by lost relationship it was very important to me and I just started having diarrhea it was like crazy stress here leads to stress them so there's connection but there's also a connection going stress in your God can cause stress in your brain and you sort of intuitively know this people get butterflies when they're excited loose stools as I mentioned when they're upset or anxious where you feel depressed or grief the gut lining this is not hard none of what I'm going to talk about tonight is hard you're gonna get 101 class and got help and it's not hard so from your mouth all the way to the other end you have about thirty feet between your mouth and your esophagus and your stomach and your intestines and your colon it's about thirty feet it's lined all of that thirty foot hose is lined with a single cell layer and this cell layer is so important it's the connection between the outside world and the inside body and when that cell layer breaks down something doctors call leaky gut there's a whole bunch of trouble that happens in your body because it activates your immune system and then you know all of you now if your immune systems too active you're gonna be in big trouble so leaky gut it's where the junctions that type normally tight junctions in the cell lining that protects your god it's when they start to come apart or when they get little tiny ulcerations and leaky gut is associated with all sorts of bad things from autoimmune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis or celiac disease or Crohn's disease ms a whole host there's hundreds of autoimmune disorders digestive symptoms gas bloating constipation diarrhea irritable bowel syndrome where you can vary between constipation and diarrhea upset stomach whenever you have an emotional upset your stomach hurts and did you know that these 30 feet of esophagus stomach intestines colon all of it single-cell lining and it's wrapped in smooth muscle and what happens to muscle when you get upset clamps down and then it hurts seasonal allergies and asthma are associated with leaky gut hormonal imbalances chronic fatigue syndrome fibromyalgia depression anxiety ADHD skin issues like acne and rosacea where your face turns red candida overgrowth so fungal overgrowth in your gut food allergies and intolerance and headaches so you have any of those things or you know anybody who has any of those things tell them tune in tonight and of course we will save this so what causes your cell lining of your gut to betray you to become leaky and when I say leaky it means these tight junctions start to loosen up and things that should never get inside your body they begin to get inside your body causing your immune system to go hey this is foreign you don't belong here and it mounts an immune response which makes you sick because it begins to see your own body as friendly-fire it begins to see your own body as the enemy it's really the ultimate and having a low self-esteem where your own immune cells are attacking your own tissues so bad diet number one cause of leaky gut you have to eat right to think right to feel right to behave right sugar gluten corn processed foods and pesticides that's why we eat organic we don't eat organic because we're Ganic food has more nutrients it doesn't we eat organic to avoid the pesticides because what do pesticides kill bugs and you're gonna hear in a little bit when we talk about the microbiome you have a hundred trillion bugs in your gut so you don't want to be eating things sprayed with Roundup isit just came out that bear and I just spoke for them early in the pandemic that bear which but roundup from Monsanto is going to pay out more than eleven billion dollars to settle the lawsuits against rounds up and its potential association with cancer if you're damaging your gut you're more likely to have all sorts of medical problems that we discussed including cancer all right so bad diet low stomach acid and enzymes I used to have sort of a chronic cough and I realized it was reflux and my doctor put me on something to lower stomach acid and it was sort of helpful until I read it better because you need stomach acid why do you have stomach acid to digest your food so I'm not a fan of all these antacids I'm a fan of get your diet right alcohol I told you so American Cancer Society just came out two weeks ago and said you should not drink because alcohol is a risk factor for cancer so if you're managing the pandemic by drinking one two three six glasses of alcohol every night stop it it's clearly not good for you and it increases leaky gut drug abuse including marijuana many medications infections mold environmental chemical environmental chemicals like heavy metals BPA's PCBs and then you know what's happened the last three months chronic unremitting stress damages the cell lining in your gut so probably you know maybe 30% of people had leaky gut before all this started because we're just unhealthy as a society and probably now it's over 50 or 60 percent of people now have leaky gut because of the chronic stress and then having your microbiome that's not balanced so let's talk about the microbiome so these are the hundred trillion bugs in your gut bacteria viruses fungi it's like a city like the world's largest city of a hundred trillion little beings there's 10,000 unique species ten times the number of cells in your body so it's estimated we have 10 trillion cells like brain cells hundred billion brain cells 10 trillion cells in our body but a hundred trillion bucks in your microbiome and everybody has good bugs and bad bugs but the goal is have about 85% good ones so they can manage the 10 to 15% of the troublemakers but when that becomes unbalanced because of antibiotics or pesticides what antibiotics kill bugs and they can damage your microbiome that's why when you get a cold you shouldn't just run for a z-pack or penicillin or amoxicillin or whatever your best defense against kovat 19 your best defense against the flu your best defense against any of these things is not a vaccine it's your immune system now I'm not an anti back sir I think vaccines clearly got rid of smallpox but I think we need to be thoughtful and careful uh about them and I know anybody that says that is a heretic well I've been a heretic for a long time I think we should be thoughtful and we should maximize optimize and I'm sort of irritated that doctor foul he is not talking about our physical health you know they're racing for vaccine but nobody's talking about it's the obesity diabetes terribly low vitamin D level awful diet that is fuelling aiding and abetting the epidemic so they asked about a podcast with dr. Gundry I have actually done two so if you go to brain Warriors Way podcast calm you can listen to all of them we have about 700 of them Apple came out with a list of the all-time most popular podcasts and in the mental health category they listed the brain Warriors Way podcast so Tana and I are grateful if you listen all right microbiome so your brain is about three pounds the bugs in your guide about five pounds so you want to take good care of them the functions of those bugs they protect the gut lining so when the bugs are healthy they're working to keep those tight junctions tight they digest your food they absorb nutrients they synthesize vitamins like vitamin K and b12 neurotransmitters such as serotonin and they help detoxify your body so they protect the gut lining they help you digest your food they absorb nutrients synthesize vitamins and they're involved in detoxification so I'm just thinking to myself how to make a mnemonic out of that so pads with 2ds protect the gut lining absorb nutrients digest your food detoxification and synthesize or make but is sort of important when Tana explained this to Chloe our 16 year old when she was eight and she said you know you have bugs in your gut and you have to take care of it was so terrible and she's like calmed her down and said sort of like Biff and Lacey for bifida bacteria and lactobacillus and you have to protect them you have to take care of them because they're really important and your microbiome is likely to be deficient if you feel anxious stressed or depressed that's so many people during this time people with ADHD autism mental fogginess heart disease diabetes cancer and obesity so unhealthy microbiome associated with all of these things so what hurts it and actually many things that hurt the lining of your gut medications antibiotics oral contraceptives proton pump inhibitors antacids steroids and non-steroidal anti-inflammatories if you're taking ibuprofen you're damaging your gut and often makes it harder to lose weight if you're under stress who isn't the last three months sugar intake there it is again artificial sweeteners is one study with Splenda you know the yellow packet sucralose found that it decreased gut bacteria significantly and when it was developed actually a cousin of it was developed it was developed initially as a pesticide but they found it was sweet and you know I'm just not a fan of artificial sweeteners I like stevia it's a natural sweetener I like erythritol and small amounts big amounts can upset your stomach so the things that mess with these healthy gut bugs medication stress sugar artificial sweeteners and allergies and if you don't sleep and shift workers have a very high incidence of this imbalance of microbiome as do soldiers other things that damage the microbiome toxins so bacteria SCYTL chemicals and water pesticides heavy metals alcohol and one thing I'm just very concerned about all the disinfectants you're putting on your hands because whatever goes in your body goes on your body whatever goes on your body said that backwards goes on your body goes in your body and you want to be very careful that's why using green products I'm a huge fan of the eCos brand in your store because I know these guys personally I help them create a brain healthy business and I love them I love their mission I love their values but you know read the ingredients of whatever you're cleaning with or washing your hands with infections can damage your butt like h pylori which is actually a risk factor for depression and dementia parasites low omega-3 fatty acids which are found in about 98% of the population low vitamin D 80% of the population high intensity exercise this why I'm like a ban of no suffering like I want today I've worked holy smokes 17,000 steps but I'm not running a marathon because it's too much stress on my body the greatest danger to your microbiome is not from prescribed antibiotics but from food 70% of the antibiotic use in the United States is for livestock and that's why I want you to focus on me being organic no pesticides antibiotic free hormone-free free-range meats whenever possible and I know you're gonna go but that's expensive like it's true so eat half and then it won't be any more money and you know worrying too much is this society and you're gonna save money because you'll make more money if your gut is healthy your brain is healthy if your brain is healthy you make better decisions if your brain is healthy you don't get divorced as often you stay married and better decisions goes with more money so that's very interesting study antibiotics decrease gut bacteria and they stopped the growth of new cells in the hippocampus in the brain and you guys who follow me know I talked about the hippocampus bring four seahorse so that made your memory and mood structure in your brain it's super important and hippocampus is Greek for seahorse it makes 700 new baby seahorses every day and antibiotics actually decrease the number of new seahorses produced every day so they can actually affect your mood and your memory but exercise physical exercise and probiotics which we'll talk about help to reverse the trouble so what increase is healthy gut bacteria so I basically for all of this like brain he'll three things brain and II gotta care about it avoid things that hurt it do things that help microbiome Envy one love the bugs in your gut so if you do you want to avoid anything that hurts it we talked about the less and then do things that help it so you need to feed the bugs with something we call prebiotics basically food for the probiotics or food for the bugs and so prebiotics apples beans cabbage psyllium artichokes onions leeks asparagus root vegetables like sweet potatoes squash beets carrots turnips we had beats us weeks so good what also increases healthy gut bacteria probiotics and you can get probiotics and foods such as fermented foods that contain live bacteria kefir kombucha unsweetened yogurt now you have to be careful with yogurt because most of the dairy is raised with antibiotics and hormones so I'm generally not a fan of dairy but you can go with goats milk or coconut milk kimchi pickled fruits pickled vegetables my personal favorite is sell crumb loaded with antibiotics I lived in Germany for three years love dead loved the food and then you get probiotic supplements at brainmd we actually have a probiotic that is actually been done in two randomized control trials show that I helped decrease stress decrease anxiety and improve your mood it's called Pro brand biotics so let's just have an example and put all this together for you my wife actually wrote this it's called the Jedi tale of Larry Leakey so Larry got angry and he was emotionally upset and so he started drinking alcohol like some of you been doing during the pandemic alcohol kills bacteria he came home and his wife got really angry at him which increased his cortisol and disrupted his digestion Larry was in the doghouse and so he's upset he's like I'm not hurting anyone I'll only do it this one time I deserve it and started eating cupcakes and cookies ice cream sugar damages the microbiome and then he starts having autoimmune reactions and pain his head hurts his hip hurts his shoulder hurts his knee hurts and so he starts taking non-steroidal anti-inflammatories like motrin which increase the cell lining junctions he has leaky gut damaging his microbiome he's immune compromised and now he gets sick and he goes to the doctor and says I'm sick and the doctor said you'll probably be fine and Larry goes I'm paying you all this money aren't you going to give me an antibiotic and just to get him out of his office the doctor says sure I'll give you an Anna by like take it and you'll be fine so now you just see all the risk factors he has but now he's depressed he's tired he's got digestive issues and finally he actually heard this talk and his wife said when are you gonna listen to me and he said okay I'm gonna start taking care of my gut lining and my microbiome so I hope this is helpful to you nobody knows that if you get your gut right you get your food right you avoid things that hurt your microbiome hurt your gut lining avoid those things do things that help it you are likely to feel so much better and I know I see in the chat you guys are talking about probiotics and how many of you need and it's not how many billion you need it's do you get the right ones you know people go 90 billion yay get the ones that's why we created probe brain biotics only has 3 billion 3 billion because that was the dose used in the studies for anxiety stress and a low mood so I know we're in America and we always think more is better but more is not better anyways I hope this has been helpful to you leave comments or questions and for certain check out the brain warriors way podcast if you leave us a comment question or review at brain warriors way podcast.com wonder you and - a raffle to win either my new book the end of mental illness is a whole section on gut health are these mental illnesses or they brain health issues seriously they're brain health issues anyways I care about all of you be safe be smart still a pandemic you want to have enough anxiety that you wear a mask I was out today put out to dinner went shopping and I wore a mask and I didn't hug anybody and I didn't shake anybody's hand and I washed my hands right so I'm not a fan of more stay-at-home orders absolutely not but I'm a fan of being smart so have enough anxiety that you do the right thing take care

Channel: AmenClinics

Views: 115,765

Keywords: ADHD, Anxiety, Depression, Dementia, Alzheimers, Nutrition, Daniel Amen, Amen Clinics, Psychiatrist, ADD, Mental Health, Brain SPECT scan, Brain Scan, Psychiatry, Integrative Health, Wholistic Health, Memory, Mental Health Treatment, Mental Health Services, Gut Health, Leaky Gut, Gut Microbiome, Gut Brain Connection

Id: TBmJ_nPsuRU

Length: 33min 47sec (2027 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 29 2020