Gut Health

The state of your gut health has a tremendous impact on the strength of your immune system and plays a large role in overall health. Your gut is considered your “second brain” and it can become out of balance due to poor diet, stress, medications, and illness. The first signs of an unhealthy gut may present as digestive disorders, however many chronic illnesses can be related to gut dysbiosis as a root cause including:

• Digestive issues
• Autoimmune diseases
• Obesity, heart disease, and diabetes
• Hormonal imbalances, including thyroid disease
• Mental illness
• Cancer

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The Importance of a Healthy Gut

There are trillions of microbes living in your gut, referred to as the microbiome.

For the average person, your microbiome can weigh between one and two pounds. These microbes consist of bacteria, fungi, viruses, and parasites, all of which contain genes — over 3 million, to be exact!  Around 99% of these genes come from gut bacteria.

While it’s impossible to control the genes that you are born with, you can alter the genes in your gut through diet and lifestyle modification.

The digestive process begins as soon as you put food into your mouth, and continues on through the stomach, small intestine, and on through the large intestine and colon for waste elimination.

Your gut bacteria produce vitamins, nutrients, and even neurotransmitters which can affect the overall health of your body in many different ways. Most people think that their gut’s main responsibility is to digest food. 

Other Functions of the Gut Include: 

• Communicating with your immune system
• Digesting and absorbing nutrients
• Producing essential vitamins
• Protecting against pathogen overgrowth
• Regulating intestinal mucosal barriers

One of the biggest reasons why you need a healthy gut is that 70% of your immune system resides in your gastrointestinal tract.

The healthy bacteria communicate with your immune system so it will know when it’s time to attack bad bacteria, viruses, pathogens, and other foreign bodies trying to invade it.

A healthy gut is key for disease prevention, longevity, and feeling your best!

The gut microbiome is a constantly changing, living organism that reacts to all kinds of stimuli such as what you drink, the food you eat, medications that you take, exercise, and stress levels.

Healthy flora is the protector of the body from the outside environment. Whatever you put through your digestive system is what these bacteria live off of.

When you overload them with unhealthy foods or medications, it’s hard for them to protect you, which can lead to a variety of health concerns.

 

Dr. Berutti and her staff are exceptional. I have gone to their office for nearly two years now. They provided a health supplement program specifically designed for me, which has made me feel more energetic, focused, and happy. I greatly appreciate the help they have and are still giving me with my overall health and would highly recommend their practice. Thank you Dr. Berutti and your wonderful team!” – Clarence H.

You Have the Biggest Influence Over Your Gut Health

You are the biggest influencer of your gut health through your diet, the medications that you take, and the lifestyle that you lead.

Your healthy gut flora is the protector of your body from the outside environment. Whatever you put through your digestive system is what these bacteria live off of.

When you overload them with unhealthy foods or medications, it’s hard for them to protect you. This can lead to many different health concerns.

Evidence continues to grow on how the imbalance of good bacteria to bad bacteria in your gut (known as dysbiosis) can directly affect your health. Other things that disrupt the balance of your gut microbiome include:

• Foods high in sugar
• Unhealthy fats
• Antibiotics
• NSAIDs
• Birth control pills
• Foods containing gluten
• Sedentary lifestyle
• Alcohol or drug abuse
• Stress levels
• Some artificial sweeteners
• Imbalanced hormones including thyroid and insulin
• Obesity
• Illness
• Trauma (emotional and physical)

Standard American Diet 

The SAD (Standard American Diet) is filled with high-fat, high-sugar, and processed foods. While these offer a certain amount of convenience, they are not good for your body. Gut dysbiosis can contribute to many gastrointestinal disorders including:

• Irritable bowel syndrome
• Inflammatory bowel disease
• Food allergies/insensitivities
• Celiac disease
• Increased gut permeability (also called Leaky Gut Syndrome)
• Colon cancer

Leaky Gut Syndrome, which is caused by an imbalance of gut bacteria, is a major precursor to certain autoimmune diseases.

Inflammation in your gut leads to a dysregulation of your immune system. It can also affect your body’s metabolism through digestion and absorption of certain nutrients.

An imbalance in gut bacteria has been shown in multiple studies to potentially lead to cardiovascular diseases such as obesity, diabetes, coronary artery disease, and even heart failure.

The gut speaks to the brain via the vagus nerve. This is known as the gut-brain axis and can indirectly influence moods like depression or anxiety, sleep, memory, and cognition.

Through the vagus nerve, the gut is able to communicate with the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis to also regulate hormones.

My husband & I both go to Dr. Berutti. She really listens & does testing to get to the root of the problem. We both feel better than we have in years!” –  Penny L.

Gut Health Testing at the Dynamic Life Health Center in Southlake, TX

At the Dynamic Life Health Center, we offer comprehensive testing to help you restore your gut health.

The testing that we provide includes Vibrant America Food Sensitivity Testing and Food Allergy Testing.

These blood tests will determine if you have allergies or sensitivities to hundreds of common foods which may be linked to the activation of your immune system.

Additionally, some symptoms that you may experience if you have food allergies are digestive disorders, migraines, chronic fatigue, joint and muscle aches, obesity, and skin issues such as rashes.

Genova Small Intestine Bacteria Overgrowth Test (SIBO) is a simple breath test that measures exhaled hydrogen and methane gasses after ingestion of a lactose solution. Patients who have SIBO often experience abdominal pain, diarrhea, constipation, and gas. SIBO is associated with IBS, IBD, Celiac Disease, Type 2 Diabetes, Fibromyalgia, Parkinson’s Disease, and Obesity.

Genova GI Effects Test is a stool test that looks at overall gut health, the function of your digestive system, inflammation, and imbalances within the microbiome, including an analysis of bacteria, yeast, and parasites. Additionally, we offer a more comprehensive test called Gut Zoomer which provides a more in-depth profile of your gut health. The Wheat Zoomer is a comprehensive test that can identify gluten allergies and Celiac disease. 

Vibrant America Micronutrient Test identifies nutrient deficiencies including vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and antioxidants to determine deficiencies.

How to Restore Gut Health

If you are afflicted with digestive issues, autoimmune problems, hormonal imbalances, or chronic disease, the good news is that you (yes, you!) can have a direct influence on your overall health going forward. By getting the digestive tract in balance, it’s possible to drastically improve your health, and in many cases, even reverse some of the types of problems you may be having. Dr. Berutti is an expert on gut health, hormone balancing, thyroid balancing, and anti-aging. She can provide you with the professional expertise needed in order to feel better and lead a longer and healthier life.

Here are some of the things that you can do to improve your health:

• Change your diet. One study shows that improving the type of food that you eat can make a difference as soon as 24 hours. Food is a major factor in promoting the growth of good or harmful bacteria in the gut. Bad bacteria feed off processed foods that contain high amounts of sugar and bad fats. Conversely, whole, unprocessed foods (especially ones containing fiber) have been shown to improve the balance of good bacteria.
• Make sure that you are taking a good probiotic supplement. This adds beneficial bacteria to the gut microbiome.
• Avoid antibiotics unless absolutely necessary since they wipe out a serious amount of good bacteria in your gut (in addition to killing the bad bacteria), leaving you more vulnerable to yeast and harmful bacteria.
• Avoid taking NSAIDs unless absolutely necessary. Studies show that these types of drugs (Advil, Motrin, Aleve) can alter your gut bacteria in only 24 hours.
• Avoid taking proton pump inhibitor drugs for heartburn and other digestive issues. These types of drugs inhibit the production of stomach acid which is vital to the proper breakdown of food before it enters the intestines. There are natural ways to deal with acid reflux, including changing your diet and, when needed, drinking a glass of water with a teaspoon of baking soda.

Do: 

• Eat probiotic-rich foods such as fermented veggies, kefir, kimchi, and sauerkraut as these contain live, healthy bacteria.
• Exercise. One of the benefits of exercise is that it reduces the inflammatory responses that occur within the body and can reduce the effects of mental and physical stress.
• Manage stress. Stress can be mental, emotional, and physical. Lifestyle choices such as the foods you eat or how much sleep you get can burden the body with excess stress which can contribute to disease.
• Get enough sleep. Many research studies have shown that not getting enough sleep can contribute exponentially to stress and the inability to deal with it. Lack of sleep also has a direct effect on gut health.

The connections between your health and your gut are undeniable. We are seeing a major rise in the number of diseases, and more research is proving that an unhealthy gut leads to disease, so it’s important to listen to your gut.

Starting as a New Patient

When you start with us as a new patient, you will initially need two different appointments, approximately three weeks apart.

At the first appointment, your provider will go over your reasons for seeking help, your medical history, your health goals, and all of your symptoms. This appointment will also serve to answer any additional questions you may have. After that first appointment, an individualized lab order will be drawn up based on all of the information gleaned from that first appointment.

Your labs will need to be drawn after your first appointment. The lab panel is quite comprehensive and may include other hormones, including adrenal function, cortisol levels, a complete thyroid panel, as well as vital markers such as A1C, blood sugar, cholesterol, liver and kidney function, and inflammation levels, among others.

Your thyroid hormones can have an effect on your other hormones and in some cases, other hormonal imbalances may occur alongside the thyroid disorder. The endocrine system contains many hormones and glands that operate synergistically.

Your provider is going to test the right things exactly tailored to your symptoms and needs. Thyroid treatment should always include the big picture. A functional medicine approach is holistic and looks for the root causes of all symptoms.

At your second appointment, once the lab results are in, your provider will go through those lab results and how these relate to your symptoms. At that time she will prescribe appropriate treatment protocols and will discuss other measures to improve your overall health.

After prescribing your custom treatment protocol, we will want to follow up with you every three months during the first year to check your progress and to make sure that your treatment is working ideally for you.  Once you are established and balanced after the first year, she will want to see you bi-annually.

Insurance

We can provide you with the paperwork that contains the diagnostic and CPT codes that you can submit for possible reimbursement with your insurance company.

We do encourage you to contact your insurance company prior to your first visit to ask them what benefits they give for seeing an out-of-network provider and for comprehensive lab work. If, for some reason, they will not cover lab fees, we can offer our patients a substantial self-pay discount, and we will work with you to keep costs within your budget.

You are also able to use Health Saving Accounts (HSAs) and Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs).

Contact our New Patient Coordinator for More Information

Or, Simply Complete the Form Below and We Will Contact You! 

Our New Patient Coordinator is happy to speak with you anytime M-F 9-5. She will take the time to answer your questions, explain our protocols and fees and help you make an informed decision about whether we are the right fit for you. There are no obligations for this complimentary phone consultation.

Please call to get more information about how our providers can help you with your health goals.

We look forward to the opportunity to restore your health and regain your vitality for life!

817-539-6168