Leaky What?
What’s “Leaky Gut”? A term someone just made up? When a gut leaks, which way does it leak? Does it let things in? Or let things out? Or both?
Patients suffer from leaky gut or intestinal permeability disease because of long-standing inflammation. A very dangerous phenomenon! Decades of effort to try to reverse leaking and ulcer formation in ulcerative colitis and other diseases have failed. The Paleolithic Ketogenic Diet (PKD) reverses the damage and actually heals the leaking intestinal lining.
Breaking down Leaky Gut
So how does all this work? Your digestion, highly choreographed and synchronized performs on a miraculous level. Your food first enters into your stomach where strong acid and the natural movements churn and break down your food. The intestines digests and selectively absorbs the food. Stuff not absorbed ends up in the toilet.
Leaky Gut Phase 1
Problems occur when inflammation enters the scene. Blame the kind of carb-focused diet we eat or the intensely stressful lives we seem to live today. No matter where you place the blame, cells suffer damage and the seal lining our guts begins to leak. It allows stuff that shouldn’t be absorbed to infiltrate. Stuff goes out the other direction as well. Stuff we should be retaining! Malnutrition sneaks in and the body starves for necessary minerals and vitamins.
Leaky Gut Phase 2
Tiny little doorways or connections play an important part in this intestinal drama. These connections, called tight junctions, seal adjacent cells to one another much like staples. When the staples loosen, they get leaky. The wider these openings spread, the larger the particles coming in and out of our body.
Leaky Gut Phase 3
Our immune system in response freaks out. An emergency switch flips. In the natural state, chemicals called cytokines work like quarterbacks. This leader of the situation directs other defender cells to protect us from invasion. However, when this goes on for too long too much-unwanted material enters and the battle rages on. Collateral damage occurs. Soon healthy cells lining the intestine die off. Tiny openings give way to large ones and you end up with an ulcer. Too many ulcers and you have a severe and fatal disease like Crohn’s disease or Ulcerative Colitis.
Treating Leaky Gut
“So Doc, why can’t you just prescribe me a pill for this problem?“ Unfortunately, current medications have proven to be essentially useless. In twenty years of seeing patients, stories of a constantly leaking gut leave me sleepless. With the enormous suffering that ensues, their souls start to leak. Their spirits wilt.
Other attempts to seal the gaps have included probiotics, prebiotics, colostrum, fecal transplantation, the FODMAP diet, and the conventional Paleo Diet. Add in expensive medications that target an overactive immune system. All have failed to reverse the damage.
You can imagine my utter fascination when I read that a mere “diet” could reverse the leaking: that it could repair the damaged cells and seal these leaky gaps. What? A diet that can reverse and heal?
The Paleolithic Ketogenic Diet (PKD) diet has “restored” my hope! It can reverse the irreversible!
The Paleolithic Ketogenic Diet, PKD
Differing from the standard ketogenic diet, this version serves no dairy, no fruit, no vegetable or seed oils, and no supplements. Instead, patients eat animal fat and specific meat, all the time. her response Meats on the menu include lots of organ meat, sausage, and even hard-salami.
More than just Leaky Gut
This may sound strange to many readers. But if you suffer from the extreme malabsorption found in Crohn’s disease or other autoimmune issues of the gut, , this ain’t a bad bargain. For the entirety of my medical career, I’ve told patients to stay away from processed meat and high fat. Not true! Several small studies broke through the zero-cured label found in the treatment textbooks for these debilitating disorders. PKD lowered inflammation, healed their guts and reversed an otherwise fatal outcome.
The aforementioned studies used Polyethylene glycol 400(PEG400) to detect even the smallest break in our sealed barrier deep within our guts. PEG400 acts as a probe when swallowed. In a nicely sealed normal gut, only specific materials and molecules can enter. Only abnormal gaps between cells allow the PEG 400 to enter our circulation. The perfect gut would not allow any (or at least a very low level) of PEG400 into our body. Clearance of that marker lands it in your urine where it can be detected and measured.
A published study in 2016 described a young teenager with advanced Crohn’s disease. Placed on the Paleolithic ketogenic diet after failing everything else, his inflammation decreased, ulcers healed, and gaps sealed in less than 2 months. Thirty-five months later, he remains healthy!! No medications. Just clean eating.
Whether the Paleolithic ketogenic diet – for someone seriously ill – or the basic ketogenic diet, this is more than just weight loss. These diets repair the body and improve overall health, one ketone at a time!
References:
[1] Tóth, C., Dabóczi, A., Howard, M., J. Miller, N., & Clemens, Z. (2016). Crohn’s disease successfully treated with the paleolithic ketogenic diet. International Journal of Case Reports and Images, 7(9), 570.doi:10.5348/ijcri-2016102-cr-10690
Dr. Bosworth I love your work and will tell anyone who has their brain turned on.
Great Job! Forwarding my doctor! Wishing you continued success, Dr. B!
Very clear, informative, simple, and helpful.
beautiful presentation about a serious disease that has confounded the researchers and Pharma
Love all your information for great health
I am very interested in purchasing your new book when it comes out. I am a type two diabetic and on a very low carb diet. My A1c the last two times was 5.2 and the year before at 5.0. Four years ago I had an A1c of 7.9 at which time I started looking for a solution and found Richard Bernstein’s book. I watch your youtube presentations on a regular basis and have your first book. I think you do a fantastic Job and thank you so much for all the effort you put into giving everyone such great information.
Thank you. Working hard trying to get the second book out. I hope you enjoy it!
i listened to your video on reversing leaky gut. It was only about 15 minutes long. Never getting into the actual PKD diet. How do I get all the info on the PKD? Thanks.
https://youtu.be/nYA0z3lNT_M
This is the video Dr Boz did on PKD
Praying for a solution to my constant problem with diarrhea, I came to your article on intestinal permeability. After reading and watching the video I had the thought, maybe I should try the paleolithic ketogenic diet. I have been battling with this diarrhea for over 15 years. Could you please send me more information about this diet and your suggestions as well.
BEGINNERS— ALL THINGS KETO: http://bit.ly/2yE1Caw
This playlist will get you started
In the PKD, are eggs and beans included in the NO list?
Here is a video on PKD https://youtu.be/nYA0z3lNT_M
It can answer a lot of your questions.
The 2016 study you mentioned, do you know what type of diet this person was able to eat long term? You say clean eating, does that mean he had to eat a mostly meat and limited vegetable diet forever in order to maintain wellness or would it be expected that over time he could again eat fruits and vegetables?
Virginia,
Watch this video, I think it may help you understand.
https://youtu.be/A_m3UibHqGE
I’m curious how many people you have personally worked with that were able to heal severely leaky gut? I’ve been trying pkd for 3 months now but in intestines are more inflammed than ever. They are painful to the touch and it’s difficult to live. I have really bad GERD which is why I started. I wonder if h.pylori or candida could still be a factor.
Hi Dr. Boz,
I noticed you have peanuts listed under nightshades. I know there are space limitations with slides and posters, but peanuts are not nightshades. They are one of the top 8 allergens though. Eggplant, goji berries and ashwaganda (an herb) and tobacco are also nightshades.
Yep – you are right … peanuts are not nightshades … Must have ended upon there for other reasons .. but for the life of me I can’t think why I did that … Sorry.
Hi Dr. Boz,
I noticed you have peanuts listed under nightshades. I know there are space limitations with slides and posters, but peanuts are not nightshades. They are one of the top 8 allergens though. Eggplant, goji berries and ashwaganda (an herb) and tobacco are also nightshades.
Thanks for the helpful info and great explanations!
Can you please send me more information. I just got diagnosed in 10/2020 as diabetic type 2 hyperglycemic. I started with keto but when I did the 72 hours fasting, I got really bad diarrhea. than last week again try to do it I made 48 and got diarrhea again but not so bad like the first time.
Josie,
Start slow, watch this video https://youtu.be/IHYL9L71O2c
Do not fast until you are fat adapted