Assessing Your General Digestive Status to Lowering Your Toxic Burden

Assessing Your General Digestive Status  to Lowering Your Toxic Burden

Indications of poor digestion manifest in various ways, sometimes as symptoms that

seemingly have nothing to do with your gut. Here are just some of the signs to pay
attention to (Lipski 2005):

• Abdominal pain
• Bloating
• Constipation
• Diarrhea
• Rectal itching
• Undigested food particles in stool
• Poor immunity
• Recurrent vaginal infections
• Iron deficiency
• Asthma
• Joint pain or arthritis
• Skin conditions, such as eczema, psoriasis, acne, or rosacea
• Fuzzy thinking and poor memory
• Chronic autoimmune disorders

Lab Assessments

To get a clearer picture of exactly what’s going on in your gut, you can get a
stool panel analysis by a lab such as DiagnosTechs or Metametrix. Simply order this
panel through a doctor, nutritionist, or other qualified health care provider who is
familiar with their use. This test offers unique insights into what is happening in
your gut from a functional perspective: Do you have an overgrowth of yeast or
other pathogens plaguing your small intestine? How robust is your supply of
friendly microbes? Are you producing sufficient stomach acid and pancreatic
enzymes to adequately digest your food? How healthy is your gut lining? Stool tests
that look at these indicators can also help determine sensitivities and allergies to
common dietary irritants, such as wheat, dairy, and soy. The great value of these
tests lies in their ability to help you and your practitioner pinpoint your digestive
problems to find more targeted solutions. And since so many health issues begin in
the gut, by repairing it, you are contributing manifestly to your overall well-being.