Clean Gut Quotes

“As the author Michael Pollan taught us in his book The Omnivore’s Dilemma, our food and the way we eat has changed more in the last fifty years than in the last five thousand. All these changes mean that we’re eating in a way that’s significantly different from our ancestors. High-fructose corn syrup, corn-fed factory-farmed meat, preservatives, genetically modified wheat, and hormone-injected dairy are all examples of foods that have never been consumed in the quantities and combinations that we’re consuming them in now.”
― Alejandro Junger, Clean Gut: The Breakthrough Plan for Eliminating the Root Cause of Disease and Revolutionizing Your Health

“Most people who educate themselves on health matters are aware that inflammation can go unnoticed and lead to chronic diseases after long periods of dormancy. Blood tests, such as a C-reactive protein (CRP) test or a test of the erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), can detect inflammation even before any symptoms are noted. Even the most traditional of western allopathic doctors, who are finally catching up to the dangers of inflammation, have started ordering these tests routinely. That doesn’t mean they know what to do with the results, however. Most doctors I meet treat inflammation as the disease itself and deploy all sorts of anti-inflammatory weapons, from natural fish oils to synthetic drugs such as statins. They still consider these measures “preventive” since inflammation precedes a chronic disease.”
― Alejandro Junger, Clean Gut: The Breakthrough Plan for Eliminating the Root Cause of Disease and Revolutionizing Your Health

“The severity of gut dysfunction varies for four reasons: The toxic organisms present may be beyond what the Clean Gut program is designed to remove. These include severe yeast overgrowth, parasites, viruses, and certain bad bacteria, such as salmonella, Escherichia coli (E. coli), or Clostridium difficile (C. difficile). Other influences may cause a severe leaky gut, such as heavy-metal toxicity or full-blown autoimmune-induced inflammation, including Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, which impair the regeneration of the cells of the intestinal wall. Mechanical obstructions may interfere, such as constrictions, scarring, or an impacted, dilated colon. Diverticulitis may be present, with pockets of infection. Of these four reasons, only the final two require immediate medical attention and surgery.”
― Alejandro Junger, Clean Gut: The Breakthrough Plan for Eliminating the Root Cause of Disease and Revolutionizing Your Health

“When there is dysbiosis and hyperpermeability, the brain in the gut diverts its attention to coordinate the responses of the GALT and compensates for many other imbalances that occur as a result of our Achilles’ Heel injury. The second brain quickly becomes so busy coordinating these other “emergency” functions that the normal everyday functions also get affected. Peristalsis is one of the first to feel the pinch. Constipation is the most common symptom on the planet, even if most people suffering from it don’t know it. One bowel movement a day is considered great by a lot of people, but it is really constipation’s mildest expression.”
― Alejandro Junger, Clean Gut: The Breakthrough Plan for Eliminating the Root Cause of Disease and Revolutionizing Your Health

“The body uses a code system called the HLA (human leukocyte antigen) system, which works in a similar fashion. It gives a code to all surfaces. Immune cells basically identify surfaces. Everything has a surface, whether it is your own cells, a microorganism, or a piece of food. When your immune system scans the interior surfaces of your body, it compares each to a list of approved codes, the ones it classifies as “self.”
― Alejandro Junger, Clean Gut: The Breakthrough Plan for Eliminating the Root Cause of Disease and Revolutionizing Your Health

“If the wall of an artery gets injured—a common occurrence when arteries are stretched because of stress and high blood pressure, or scratched by toxic and irritating molecules such as nicotine, trans fats, chlorine, additives, and oxidants—your body patches up fissures with cholesterol plaque, a kind of plaster, in an attempt to prevent the artery from further damage and bleeding. The cholesterol plaque also buys time for the cells in the arterial wall to divide and repair the injured area, covering it with new cells under the plaque. Eventually, once the irritating conditions subside, as happens in nature, the cholesterol plaque will be reabsorbed and the artery will look like new again. This is similar to what happens to an injury in your skin under a scab. New cells are growing and covering the area, so when the scab falls, your skin is as intact as it was before the injury.”
― Alejandro Junger, Clean Gut: The Breakthrough Plan for Eliminating the Root Cause of Disease and Revolutionizing Your Health

“An unhealthy population of organisms in the gut is a condition known as dysbiosis, an inevitable consequence of the unnatural conditions in which we live and arguably the most common problem affecting people today. We are all walking around with some degree of dysbiosis. Dysbiosis is not a simple problem to diagnose and it can sometimes be very hard to correct.”
― Alejandro Junger, Clean Gut: The Breakthrough Plan for Eliminating the Root Cause of Disease and Revolutionizing Your Health

“I am not saying that we shouldn’t use antibiotics when needed. Antibiotics saved my life when I was drowning with double pneumonia on my friend Richard’s sofa. But we currently use antibiotics excessively and irresponsibly. We are wiping the population of good bacteria from the face of the earth, and we may not be able to live healthy lives without them. The medical profession—myself included—needs to be more prudent and vigilant about prescribing antibiotics so promptly.”
― Alejandro Junger, Clean Gut: The Breakthrough Plan for Eliminating the Root Cause of Disease and Revolutionizing Your Health

“Some of my patients suffer greatly after a single course of antibiotics, even if the antibiotics were absolutely necessary. This is exactly what happened with Greg. He consulted me about symptoms that were not clear at all. Greg had frequent episodes of cold-like symptoms, which had been occurring regularly for over two years. The strange part was he never presented a fever or cough. He also suffered through bouts of depression, which affected him even though everything in his life was working well. When I asked Greg about his health history, he told me that he had had pneumonia two years earlier. Doctors—rightly—had prescribed a round of levaquin, a very strong antibiotic.”
― Alejandro Junger, Clean Gut: The Breakthrough Plan for Eliminating the Root Cause of Disease and Revolutionizing Your Health

“In fact, because this antibiotic regime starts early, far too many of us have always lived with compromised intestinal flora and have never been truly healthy. I see more and more of this in my practice every year. It is my experience that chronically ill people, who often present with an elusive diagnosis, have a long history of consuming antibiotics. The earlier they started, the more complicated their symptoms are later in their lives and the harder it is for doctors to find a diagnosis.”
― Alejandro Junger, Clean Gut: The Breakthrough Plan for Eliminating the Root Cause of Disease and Revolutionizing Your Health

“While giving birth is one of the most natural functions of all animals, the way humans do it has deviated substantially from the way Mother Nature intended—particularly in the United States, where pregnancy and birth are treated like a disease. It’s dealt with in sterile hospital rooms. Mothers are hooked up with intravenous lines and set up in the strangest positions, which are designed more for the doctor’s view and access than the mother’s comfort and birthing process. Too many women are induced, which often leads to C-sections that would not have been necessary if the natural process of labor had been respected and allowed to proceed without disruption. A baby in the womb is sterile, but when passing through the birth canal, it is exposed to bacteria, mouth first. These bacteria are supposed to colonize the gut, nature’s first vaccination of sorts. This does not happen during a C-Section.”
― Alejandro Junger, Clean Gut: The Breakthrough Plan for Eliminating the Root Cause of Disease and Revolutionizing Your Health

“To digest gluten, the cells of the intestinal wall produce a specific enzyme called transglutaminase. Transglutaminase breaks down gluten into its smaller building blocks, the peptides gliadin and glutenin. The cells of the intestinal wall then absorb these into circulation. The GALT scans their surfaces, as it does with all things absorbed, in search of threatening surface codes. For reasons that only nature understands, the surface of the glutenin peptide is not coded as threatening, but gliadin is in people with a genetic predisposition. T cells in the GALT will mediate the production of gliadin antibodies. These same antibodies, however, often attack the intestinal wall’s natural transglutaminase enzyme, essentially tearing apart the intestinal wall, piece by piece. This shrinks and erodes the villi and microvilli, the finger-like tendrils in the small intestine that maximize its surface area; this results in an inability of the small intestine to absorb any nutrients at all. In its most severe expression, this is known as celiac disease, which presents as weight loss, diarrhea, bloating, abdominal pain, and an overall failure to thrive.”
― Alejandro Junger, Clean Gut: The Breakthrough Plan for Eliminating the Root Cause of Disease and Revolutionizing Your Health

“Gluten is associated with cancers of the mouth and throat, esophagus, small intestines, and lymph nodes. It is also associated with type 1 diabetes as well as thyroid disorders, such as Hashimoto’s, the most commonly diagnosed thyroid dysfunction in America. Many patients achieve normalization of their thyroid function only after adopting a gluten-free diet. Gluten sensitivity is also associated with other autoimmune diseases, such as Sjörgens syndrome and dermatitis herpetiformis. Hair loss, or autoimmune alopecia, is another presentation. It is also associated with depression, migraines, arthritis, fatigue, osteoporosis, and anemia, to name a few.”
― Alejandro Junger, Clean Gut: The Breakthrough Plan for Eliminating the Root Cause of Disease and Revolutionizing Your Health

“Because so many people’s inner fermentation tanks are not populated with good bacteria, it is beneficial to consume fermented foods.”
― Alejandro Junger, Clean Gut: The Breakthrough Plan for Eliminating the Root Cause of Disease and Revolutionizing Your Health