Anything can cause a dysfunctional gut: The way your body processes food, chronic stress, food sensitivities, recent illness, antibiotic overload, drinking alcohol, poor sleep, lack of exercise, trauma, and even a woman’s menstrual cycle can all wreak havoc on gut health. That is important to know because from a Traditional Chinese Medicine perspective, your digestive system is not comprised of just your mouth, intestines, and stomach. And, the more chronic issues your gut has, the more factors contributing to your gut’s function will likely be uncovered.
Surveys estimate nearly 70 million people in the United States are affected by some sort of digestive disorder, making GI issues all too common. Sadly, there is a myriad of digestive issues that many people accept as “normal,” leading to daily discomfort.
About Gut Health
According to Chinese medicine, an overactive nervous system will decrease digestive function and therefore lead to the inability to properly absorb nutrients and excrete waste. And, in this case, acupuncture treatments would work to balance the nervous system to reduce hyperactivity and stress, leading to greater balance in the gut and improved digestion and elimination. In turn, pain and inflammation would also be decreased, helping to regulate acid production and promote natural peristalsis.
Nutritional changes are also extremely important when it comes to restoring homeostasis in the gut. Having said that, everything that you put into your body that makes you feel good, may not make the person next to you feel good (and vice versa). That’s why a detailed systems review and intake is an integral part of any treatment plan. It paints a very detailed picture of what is going on internally and allows Dr. Iona to diagnose you with a “pattern.” Then, it becomes less about treating individual conditions such as IBS or leaky gut, and more about treating all of you. At Healing Points, acupuncture, functional medicine, and nutrition are combined to create a treatment plan that is very specific to each patient’s needs.
Acupuncture can help relieve the following gut symptoms and disorders:
- Abdominal Pain
- Acid Reflux
- Bad Breath
- Bloating
- Celiac
- Changes in Appetite
- Colitis
- Constipation
- Crohn’s Disease
- Diarrhea
- Fatigue
- Gas
- Gut Dysbiosis
- H. Pylori
- Heartburn
- Hemorrhoids
- Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
- Leaky Gut
- Nausea
- SIBO
- Spasms
Learn more about
Food Sensitivity Testing
When it comes to nutrition, further disseminating the root cause of inflammation and imbalance is not always simple and obvious. Food sensitivity testing can be a good way to corroborate the fact that some of the foods you are consuming are, indeed, problematic.
Elimination Diet
If you suffer from digestive problems, headaches, chronic sinus infections or drainage, low energy, mood swings, cravings, skin issues, joint aches, asthma, autoimmune disease, or anything else we have left off this list, then an elimination diet might do your body good. It’s the real deal and a huge empowering step towards living your healthiest life.
Therapeutic Customized Food Plans
Our toolkit is filled with nutrition resources from The Institute for Functional Medicine, where Dr. Iona studied. We provide comprehensive guides for customized food plans that can positively impact many chronic conditions. We also provide tips for following each food plan, shopping lists, recipes, and strategies to address other lifestyle factors. As an example, we might recommend a Cardiometabolic Food Plan for individuals with risk factors for CVD, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, or increased belly fat. While it may seem counterintuitive to treat cardiovascular and metabolic dysfunctions with the same dietary plan, these conditions share similar causes, including inflammation, insulin resistance, and stress. Other plans include Core Food Plan, Detox Food Plan, Mito Food Plan, ReNew Food Plan, and Advanced Elimination Diets that address conditions like arthritis and autoimmune diseases.