Healing Leaky Gut with Repairvite Diet

This diet is meant to coincide with taking the Repairvite Supplement from Apex Energetics. Taking Repairvite to repair Leaky Gut and heal other GI issues is a crucial step to achieve whole-body wellness.

Review the Repairvite Program Guide here.

Avoid:

• No coffee (I know. I know)

• No chocolate

• No alcohol

• No eggs (I know! What are you going to eat for breakfast!?!) There is a substance in eggs that can bind to proteins and swoop them right out of your leaking gut. This is why we avoid this otherwise perfectly perfect food.

• No dairy – This one is tough for this reason: no butter or ghee as well as other milk products, but coconut oil works super well, as does bacon fat and olive oil.

• No grains or legumes – This includes gluten-­free grains, peas, and peanuts

• No nightshades – Sorry, ketchup fans. This one’s for you. Avoid white potatoes, tomatoes, eggplants, all peppers.

• No nuts –  I know! This is probably your biggest snack food but the texture of them can inflame the GI lining.  Almond and cashew butters are okay to eat.

• No seeds –  There is some slight room for interpretation in this one, because the literature is not conclusive about needing to eliminate this. However, we have seen patients react to things that most people don’t, and you won’t know what you react to until you eliminate the substance long enough to be able to tell the difference.  Most people still do well on this with flax and chia seeds in their diets.

• Limit your sugar intake and high ­sugar fruits.

• No fungi

• No canned or processed foods

What You CAN Eat:

• Lots of vegetables and fruit!

• Meats – fish, turkey, chicken, beef, lamb

• Bone broths have strong healing super­powers, they are full of collagen and minerals and other nutrients that give your gut what it needs to heal. Plus you can use it to cook meats and tasty greens

• Sauerkraut & kombucha they help you replenish your stores of good bacteria and good yeast

• Enough good fats, nut butters are okay just not actual nuts.

• Coconut (ie coconut butter, coconut cream, coconut milk, coconut oil, unsweetened coconut flakes, unsweetened coconut yogurt)

• Noodles (ie brown shirataki yam noodles – sold in asian grocery stores)

• Miscellaneous herbs and spices

• Apple cider vinegar

• Herbal teas

• Olive oil

• Olives

Non-vegetarian

Breakfast

• Vegetable juice
• Turkey sausage (gluten, soy free)
• Coconut yogurt with fruit

Snack

• Cucumber with sea salt
• Herbal tea

Lunch

• Salad with chicken, olive oil, and lemon juice

Snack

• Pickled ginger
• Kombucha tea

Dinner

• Sauerkraut
• Lamb
• Mixed vegetables

Vegetarian

Breakfast

• Herbal tea
• Vegetable stew
• Coconut yogurt with fruit

Snack

• Herbal tea
• Mixed fruit

Lunch

• Steamed artichoke with sea salt and lemon juice
• Apple

Snack

• Kombucha tea
• Mixed pickles

Dinner

• Mixed green salad with olives, olive oil, sea salt, and lemon juice
• Plum

After about 3 – 5 weeks of having strongly eliminated the offending foods, you can begin introducing foods slowly. There is a methodology for doing this, and it is important to stick to it so that we can tell what your body may be reacting to, and to give us an opportunity to give you some supportive treatment. If you go nuts (ha!) after 3-­5 weeks and just eat all the delicious things, you may actually damage your gut right away. Remember that insulting your body with lots of alcohol, sugar, etc, causes damage to the lining.

How Do You Determine Your CORE Food Allergens?

It is a simple process that you can do at home, free of charge! The majority of food allergies/intolerances are delayed sensitivity reactions. Elimination is the most accurate way for you to determine the delayed reaction. To do this, you must eliminate the suspected food intolerance completely from the diet for 2 weeks, then reintroduce and watch for reactions for 4 days (see below). Your core food allergen/intolerance complicates the healing process by increasing the overall body inflammation. Once you remove the core food allergen, your body’s inflammation will reduce, and sensitivities to other foods will decrease as well.

The main 4 food allergens are: wheat (gluten), corn (zein), dairy (casein), and soy. Next common after that are chocolate, peanuts, eggs, tomatoes, and beef.

The Test

Eliminate the suspected food intolerances completely from the diet for 2 weeks. Then, reintroduce and watch for reactions for 4 days (see below).

Immediate histaminic response (within hours, that night, or next day)

• Red, burning eyes, or teary eyes

• Tiredness, sleepiness

• Headaches

• Mood changes, irritability

• Rashes, hives

• Nausea, cramps, diarrhea

• Difficulty concentrating

• Restlessness, difficulty sleeping

Delayed immunological response (onset 2-7 days later)

• Colds & Flu – (WBC mediated response)

• Tiredness, sleepiness

• Colored phlegm, inflammation of mucous membranes

• Fever

• Skin itching, irritation, and dryness – eczema

• Rashes, hives

• Increased inflammation / pain (elevated C-Reactive Protein)

• Achy body

• Vomiting

Common severe allergy symptoms are the following:

• Dairy: Dry skin/eczema, and respiratory conditions (asthma, etc)

• Wheat: Excessive sweating, colitis, bowel irregularity, and high blood pressure

• Corn: Neurological symptoms (like tremors, ticks, shakes, seizures)

• Soy is a learned food allergy. After discontinuing for 3 months, many people can handle limited amounts.

Hidden places your allergen may be (always read ingredients on premade foods):

• Wheat: soy sauce, barbecue sauce, flour (pasta, bread, cakes, cookies)

• Dairy: allergic to protein called casein (caseinate), salad dressings, milk, cheese, ice cream

• Corn: corn syrup in premade beverages, corn oil used to cook chips, popcorn, corn chips, etc.

• Soy: salad dressings, textured vegetable protein, soybean oil used to cook chips, edamame, etc.

Resources

Here is a paleo blogger that is a good resource, we recommend that you sign up for her newsletter, and give this blog post a peek or just got to The Curious Coconut and click around ­– she has recipes from dinner rolls to pizza crust and a no­mato sauce, to AIP friendly desserts. ­ I love the apple crisp!  Pinterest also has a Repairvite Recipe board. Lots of great ideas there!

We strongly encourage you to build your week around meals that you look forward to and enjoy. There is also a good replacement for starches  –  Malanga, frozen yuca, tapioca, coconut flour and sweet potatoes. We’ve had a lot of malanga puree as a mashed potato replacement. The most critical piece of the puzzle is to plan ahead! Trust me, you can start off fine breakfast and lunch, but if you don’t have dinner prepped and your blood sugar crashed it’s easy to fall off the wagon and have to start over.

The most important step is to have the right mindset and remember that this process will help you feel healthier and stronger. Pay attention to your body and how it reacts to different foods as you add things back to your regular diet. The rest of your body has a very hard time flushing toxins and healing damaged cells when your gut is inflammed and not functioning at it’s highest potential. Remember that gut health is the foundation to whole-body health.

Diet change can be extremely challenging both logistically and emotionally. It can be useful to work with professionals for support on this journey. Our team is trained to help heal your gut naturally and will work with you every step of the way. Schedule an appointment to get back to balanced.