5 Things You Need to Know About Seasonal Digestive Disorders

5 Things You Need to Know About Seasonal Digestive Disorders

It's allergy season! If you have varying symptoms in your digestive system during certain times of the year, you might wonder whether you are suffering from seasonal digestive disorders. The answer to the seasonal digestive problems question is complicated.

A digestive disorder is an all-encompassing diagnosis of several factors in the body: our immune system, digestive tract, small intestine, and large intestine. When one or more of these systems breaks down due to chronic inflammation, a parasite, harmful bacteria, or intestinal permeability (leaky gut), it can lead to gut dysfunction and disorder. The most common conditions are irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), and leaky gut disorder. These disorders can cause an immune response that results in autoimmune disease or other medical conditions such as eosinophilic esophagitis, celiac disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and ulcerative colitis.

I talk all about the gut in my leaky gut webinar. It is completely free.

So, can you catch a digestive disorder in the winter just like the flu? Not really. But, do the seasons of the year impact our overall gut health and exasperate specific symptoms? Absolutely.

Let's look at the four temperate seasons of the year and how they impact digestive health.

Spring

Springtime is often the time of the year we associate with seasonal allergies, a runny nose, itchy eyes, and other allergic symptoms. As we experience these symptoms, we often hear adages repeated, 'Well, it's pollen season, so that is why you have allergies .'Our baseline assumption is that allergies happen outside of our body rather than inside our body.

What if the problem wasn't 'out there' but 'in here'? What if these pollens simply reveal underlying issues present in our bodies? The truth is, the earth is doing what it is made to do; plant species are blossoming, animals are coming out of hibernation, soil reaches warmer temperatures so that microflora can flourish. For this reason, Spring is often associated with words like renewal, resurrection, and regrowth. Seasonal allergy symptoms seem to block us from experiencing those same things!

It's all about the gut

One great example of the relationship between seasonal allergies and gut dysfunction is the common allergy to birch pollen. A study conducted in 2014 showed that patients who had a birch pollen allergy showed signs of inflammation in their intestinal mucosa, which is simply aggravated during the pollen season. Thus, it could be that an underlying condition like IBS is a big reason why they have an allergic reaction during that time of year. Maybe when the trees are blossoming in the Spring, your body is giving you a gentle reminder that some underlying gut issues need to be addressed.

Some Tips For Spring

Don't do a cleanse diet. Your body is already doing a lot of work to rid itself of toxins. Instead, eat warm soups with lots of vegetables. This may seem counterintuitive since, as the weather gets warmer, you tend to want cooler foods, but eating warmer foods will better help your body to process and release those toxins.

Are you struggling with allergies during this Spring season? I can help. Book a complimentary consultation with me below.

Summer

Summer is known for allergic symptoms to grass pollen. Like Spring, these pollens can cause histamine intolerance in the body.

Histamine is a natural nitrogen mixture involved in immune response and systemic inflammatory reactions that regulate physiological function in the gut. It also functions as a neurotransmitter. Immune cells called basophils, eosinophils, and mast cells produce histamine, which is likely involved in any allergic response.

If you have an overproduction of histamine in your body, you may have something called gut dysbiosis, which refers to an imbalance of gut microbiota wherein your body is producing too much of the types of bacteria that produce histamines. Another cause of histamine overproduction is when you have an over-activation of mast cells, which also produce histamines.

If this is the case, any fermented foods you eat will worsen the problem because the bacteria in the fermentation process produce histamine. Some examples are wine, cheese, yogurt, kefir, and vinegar. If you have an overproduction of histamine in your body, these foods will exacerbate the problem.

So when those summer grasses are kicking up your allergies, it might be time to look under the hood to see your histamine levels. We can only do that through testing. 

Tips For Summer

Drink a lot of water. When you are having a histamine reaction, drinking water is the best way to flush it from the body. It is best to drink half your weight in water every day. If possible, add a squeeze of orange juice + 1/4 tsp of sea salt + 1/4 tsp of cream of tartar for a helpful adrenal cocktail that will help with energy and electrolyte balance through the summer.

Protect yourself from the sun. Your body needs Vitamin D, but too much sun exposure on your skin can cause cancer and lead to a host of other skin problems (read more about skin problems here). Beware of most sunscreens sold in stores. They are often full of toxic ingredients that can exacerbate any underlying gut dysfunction you may have.

I talk more about the importance of hydration in supporting your gut in my free leaky gut webinar. Click below to download your copy for FREE.

Fall

The most common issue that arises during the fall season is hay fever (also known as allergic rhinitis). Hay fever is as old as the 10th century when it was thought that the smell of new hay caused the illness. That has since been disproven, but we now know that hay fever is simply an overreaction of the immune system to certain pollens in the air. Ragweed pollen is the one that is most prevalent during the fall months. Common symptoms include a running nose, itchy eyes, and cough.

In developing and regulating local and systemic immunity, gut microbiota plays a critical role. Irregular gut microbiota composition has been linked to various immune-mediated diseases, including allergy illnesses like hay fever.

When your body is struggling with an allergy like hay fever, that means your microbiota (also known as the microbiome) is not diverse enough. This can be caused by failing to eat a variety of plants and fresh fruits daily. It would be best if you ate 6-8 cups of different vegetables every day. Green vegetables are high in antioxidants, but all the other colors are just as necessary. Essentially, we are trying to grow the garden of your microbiome by introducing different strains of probiotics that only grow from a diverse array of fruits and vegetables and the unique nutrients contained in them.

Tips for Fall

Go to the farmers market and buy what is in season (typically root vegetables like beets, sweet potatoes, carrots, and other things that grow in the ground). These vegetables are easy because all you need to do is roast them together in your oven with some avocado oil, salt, and pepper.

Do you wonder if you have hay fever or some other allergy disorder? Send me a message, I’d love to connect and help.

Winter

Mold is the most common allergy encountered in the winter. Mold thrives in conditions where the temperature is above freezing, and the air is moist, such as after a rainstorm. Mold spore levels might briefly increase during warm winter months, which can be perplexing for mold-allergic patients who aren't expecting an allergy flare.

Chronic inflammatory response syndrome, or CIRS, is a broad and diverse disease that we commonly refer to as "mold illness" or "mold toxicity." Symptoms include fatigue and weakness, headaches, cough, asthma-like illness, and stomach pain.

When exposed to high amounts of biotoxins, nearly everyone feels unwell, but most people recover after they are no longer exposed. Their detoxification system can identify biotoxins in their bodies as toxins and remove them through standard procedures. 

However, a small percentage of people have human leukocyte antigen (HLA) genes that hinder their bodies from recognizing and eliminating biotoxins. The biotoxins stay in the body and cause a persistent inflammatory response throughout the body. These are the persons who are more likely to contract a mold illness like CIRS.

Mold-related symptoms can lead to several problems in the gastrointestinal tract, including infections in the gut. Mycotoxin exposure may increase your vulnerability to bacterial, viral, and parasite gut illnesses by lowering your intestinal immunity.

That was a lot of technical information that means basically this: mold is a big problem. If you have had any leaks in your house that were not remediated correctly, you may be exposed to mold continually. One of the best ways to know if mold is present in your home is to have an ERMI test done to see what spores are present in your house. If you have gut issues, brain fog, dizziness, unexplained weight gain or loss, or overall illness that no one can figure out, mold is likely the culprit.

The only real way to cure mold exposure is to remove exposure and go through a kill, bind, sweat protocol. Functional practitioners have the skill to go through that healing process.

The good news is, there are many different ways we can utilize protocols to reduce mold symptoms. Eliminating common inflammatory foods such as grains, legumes, dairy, industrial seed oils, and refined sugar can also help improve your gut health and reduce digestive upset. This is great news for seasonal and/or chronic allergy sufferers because there is a good chance that a change in your diet can at least help reduce immediate symptoms.

Tips for the Winter

What you choose to eat during the winter months plays a considerable role in helping with any mold exposure. During that time of year, around the holiday season, when lots of social gatherings and special events are taking place, it can be extra challenging to make wise choices about what you are eating. Sugar, alcohol, and dairy products are everywhere. Eating too much of these causes intestinal permeability, which is often where upset stomachs and uncomfortable symptoms come from.

Is all of this information overwhelming? I get it. It was a long journey for me to understand all of these systems in the body and how they work together. If you ever want to chat, just drop me a note and I am happy to help in any way I can

We want to continue eating root vegetables, lots of bone broth, and warming foods in the winter months instead of cold foods. This promotes digestive enzymes that help with food allergies and support our microbiome. Oftentimes, digestive symptoms in the winter come from eating foods that aren't best for that time of year and cause gastrointestinal symptoms. Ginger tea is worth trying. It always settles your stomach and promotes digestion.

Bonus: Year-round Allergies

Maybe your symptoms aren't seasonal at all but chronic. You are plagued by a particular food allergy, abdominal pain, acid reflux, even just moderate food sensitivities you've dealt with for a long time that just don't seem to get better no matter what you do. The truth is, if you have a particular systemic food intolerance or year-round allergy symptoms, some of the recommendations I give above might just be like a temporary band-aid that only enhances your quality of life for a short time. We need to do a comprehensive assessment of your digestive issues, find out if you have an autoimmune disorder, and do some detective work to determine the underlying cause of any gastrointestinal symptoms.

The good news is that, through testing, a comprehensive health history assessment, and a food sensitivity panel, we can design a specific set of protocols to help heal your gut. Improved gut health will serve to mitigate a host of allergy symptoms throughout the year, not just at the change of season.

I hope this has been helpful. If you’d like to learn more, click below to book a FREE consult with me. I look forward to connecting with you!

Talk soon,