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Why More Fiber Is NOT The Answer To Constipation and Digestive Problems
13 Plays3 months ago
Ready to resolve your gas, bloating, constipation, and other digestive problems for good? Watch my free Gut Recovery Masterclass to learn more: https://gutrecoverymethod.com/register
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Hosted by functional health practitioner and longevity author, Christian Yordanov, this podcast is dedicated to helping women struggling with gastrointestinal problems such as gas, bloating, constipation, and other digestive distress.
Whether you have a diagnosis such as IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), IBD (inflammatory bowel disease; Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis), SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth), GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease) or not, you will benefit from the insights we'll share.
Join us as we explore the intricate connections between gut health and overall well-being, addressing common issues like fatigue, poor sleep, hormonal imbalances, and anxiety.
Learn how stress impacts your digestive system and discover effective strategies to reduce inflammation, improve digestion, and enhance your quality of life.
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Transcript
Introduction to Endotoxin
00:00:43
chrisyzen
Hi, so today we're going to talk about endotoxin, what it is, why it matters, why you should care and so on and so forth. If you've watched my Gut Recovery Masterclass, you've probably heard me already talk about it. If you're a subscriber of mine, you will probably have heard or seen me write about it every once in a while. It's because it's so important for everybody to really understand a little bit more about this issue um practitioners especially because it's not on on most practitioners radars and they're then not helping their clients really well but also just the general health
00:01:27
chrisyzen
consumer like yourself perhaps needs to be a little bit more educated on everything
Health Literacy and Pharma Critique
00:01:35
chrisyzen
else. That's why I do the podcast and you know why I write books and so on. um The more educated we are as anything but especially as health consumers the better we can take care of ourselves and our family. Same thing goes for about financial literacy you know knowing how to fix you know if you have a leak in your sink or your tap or whatever just little basic things you know if if you get a flat tire so you're not completely stranded on the side of the road but the area where it's most important is with our health because otherwise we're outsourcing our health to doctors that were basically um educated by the pharmaceutical industry.
00:02:13
chrisyzen
And that ain't a good thing because all they know is symptom masking tactics, not even strategies, with chemicals that companies make eye watering profits from every year. We're talking billions and billions and billions. Okay, so back on track, what is endotoxin and why does it matter? Why
Understanding Endotoxin and LPS
00:02:36
chrisyzen
should you care? So very simply what endotoxin is, it's a term that refers to these little fragments that make up bacterial cell walls of certain excuse me um certain types of bacteria, specifically gram-negative bacteria.
00:02:57
chrisyzen
You may remember from like biology class in high school, there's gram negative gram positive bacteria. Not really that important. It's got to do with the staining that the color of the stain that they make to kind of like you know look at them under microscopes and whatnot. Really for us, it doesn't matter. But what what matters is that these endotoxin particles make up the bacterial cell walls of these gram negative bacteria. The other name for endotoxin is also LPS, also called lipopolysaccharide. So lipo refers to lipid, like a fat so sort of molecule.
00:03:39
chrisyzen
Poly means multiple, or many, and saccharide refers to like some kind of sugar or carbohydrate, quote unquote, molecule. So lipopolysaccharide is basically like a lipid and a sugar molecule kind of combined to basically create this sort of structural fragment that bacteria you know use as as part of their cell wall. Here's the problem.
Endotoxin and Inflammation
00:04:04
chrisyzen
So in and of itself, LPS or lipopolysaccharide or endotoxin with what we'll call it the rest of the episode is not necessarily harmful. Let's say like a toxic metal is or like, a you know, certain chemical toxins that are directly, you know, damaging to us. It's the fact that we have receptors in certain cells in the body like immune cells.
00:04:31
chrisyzen
that these endotoxin particles attach to these receptors, let's say in the immune cells, and then that causes those immune cells to react or rather overreact with an inflammatory response. And that's generally kind of well-intentioned to begin with, but what happens is when there's a lot of endotoxin coming into the bloodstream chronically that leads to chronic inflammation. And I'm sure you know that chronic inflammation is not good. It's a damaging process. Okay. So here's the issue. As I've already discussed in previous episodes, please check them out. If you haven't checked them out yet, things like stress increase intestinal permeability, AKA leaky gut.
00:05:26
chrisyzen
And this is where endotoxin can then start entering into the bloodstream, right?
Gut Health: Stress, Fiber, and Bacteria
00:05:34
chrisyzen
So if you're stressed physically, emotionally, it doesn't really matter because similar biochemical hormonal cascades are initiated. okay So if you're stressed and that increases your intestinal permeability or your leaky gut increases, that can allow endotoxin particles to get into your gut. So this is why it matters because we all have the ah various and gram negative species
00:06:05
chrisyzen
in our guts that produce endotoxin, right? So here is, ah so this is very important for all of us to kind of understand, but here's the issue. So the big issue is that we may or may not have overgrowth of certain gram negative species in our guts. And if we do and we eat fiber, many of them actually feed on fiber. So what we're then doing is we are, with eating fiber, we are actually feeding, it's kind of like ah putting fuel on the fire. You're giving more fiber to the gram-negative bacteria that are already overgrown, and they might not be specifically quote-unquote pathogenic, right? They could be what is known as commensals or the like regular part of the regular microbiome, as they say.
00:06:59
chrisyzen
or microbiota um but they still if there's a lot of them is that there if there's an over it's like um too much of a good thing you know if you have too much water not good too much salt not good so too too many bacteria even if they're quote unquote good for us or not harmful that can still be a problem okay So in those cases, eating fiber causes those bacterial species to increase in the the their numbers, their population. And then as that sort of continues, some of them will complete their life cycle and they die and then the they rupture, the cell all ruptures.
00:07:41
chrisyzen
and that causes the spillage of these endotoxin particles into the gut. So if your gut is already in a poor state, some of that endotoxin will get in and cause inflammation. If and or if your gut is in a poor state or in a good state, but you're then put under stress, that's another way for endotoxin to get into the gut and cause even more inflammation. And here's the kicker.
00:08:11
chrisyzen
Endotoxin itself in experiments has been shown to increase leaky gut. That could be through a number of mechanisms, but it what one it could be one of them it could be because just because of it is a stressor on the body. So if that causes like cortisol to increase, um or ah the inflammation that it causes causes cortisol to increase, which is also possible. That's another
Chronic Inflammation and Health Conditions
00:08:35
chrisyzen
mechanism through which it can increase intestinal permit permeability. So it can actually become a vicious cycle where the stress of endotoxin can cause more absorption of endotoxin and then further inflammation, further damage. And as you have this sort of leaky gut component,
00:08:55
chrisyzen
um the that can lead to over time undigested particles of food to get into to get into the bloodstream. me um And that can lead to food sensitivities, so food reactivity. So then as you're eating the same foods over and over and over, you're kind of creating more and more inflammation over time. And that inflammation, it can basically quote-unquote and attack or there's it's like no it's not necessarily that it's attacking the body but it's like there's collateral damage like if you let's say your bookshelf was on fire you take a fire extinguisher and you kind of spray down the fire to extinguish it your books or let's say that fire the the fire extinguisher was the infl inflammatory response
00:09:48
chrisyzen
um The books are going to get you know soggy, damaged, etc. As part of the collateral damage of you trying to, you know, but let's say the fire was a perceived threat, be that undigested food particles, whatever other antigen, you know, ando endotoxin particles, whatever else, right? So that's kind of the analogy I can give you there. So it's really not good. It's really not good. So this is why we use lab testing with my clients and we can actually see, is there an overgrowth of endotoxin producing bacteria, gram-negative bacteria? And this is just to kind of reiterate this.
00:10:34
chrisyzen
certain species in the gut that are quote-unquote commensals, like part of the regular microbiota, are gram negative species that have endotoxin obviously in there in their cell wolf in their cell walls. So and its ah what's interesting is that the bacteroidities, they're not a family, but it's called a phyla, like a phylum, phyla. So that sort of order of of of of bacteria, bacteroidities, that's actually one of the most prevalent species in the gut. So we have, um I think per gram of stool, they recover or genetic material that ah sort of corresponds to like to the power of 12 kind of numbers, right? Whereas
00:11:34
chrisyzen
you know, Bifidobacterium will be to the power of eight and every, every one you increase eight, nine, 10 that's added one more zero. So I think to the power of six will be like a million. power of nine would be like a billion power of 12 would be like a trillion. Right. So that's like comparing to two. So you you could be working with billions of Bifido or lacto. I can't remember which one it is per gram of stew. And these are in the trillions. So the the the point here being is that there's a a lot of these bacteria. Right. So in any case, even if you don't have an overgrowth of them,
00:12:15
chrisyzen
You don't want to eat plenty of fiber as kind of the mainstream advices, which is like just really horrible, horrible advice. And here's the thing, just to kind of go back to the impact on health. So this inflammation, so it's kind of a nebulous term to say, oh, the endotoxin gets into our bloodstream and that causes inflammation and that's not good. Because people can't viscerally grasp, why is it not good? i Can I feel it? Can I can't die? And here's the thing, you probably can feel it, except you don't feel it as something like, um you know,
00:12:57
chrisyzen
a bacterial infection necessarily, right? If in some cases, and you know, this inflammation caused by endotoxin, it can cause shivering, for example, stuff like that, which would be a little bit like a infection, flu cold type symptom, but other things it can induce so this is in in experimental endotoxemia where they inject healthy volunteers with tiny tiny tiny amounts of endotoxin and really tiny we're talking nanogram
00:13:34
chrisyzen
amounts, right So these folks I guess they needed the money they go there and they get experimented on because you know Whatever it's for science and I need the money to do whatever So that's why it's a lot of college kids doing these experiments, you know, um but anyway, so when they get Injected they can experience fatigue low mood a lot of mood type cognitive issues like um reduce cognitive function, brain fog, just low mood in general, the depression type symptoms, but also headache um and fatigue, I think I mentioned. And then like I said, there there is like, okay, you you can't get things like shivering muscle pain, which are more indicative
00:14:15
chrisyzen
the more the kind of more indicate you got a an endotoxin issue going on right and here's the thing elevated blood endotoxin levels are linked to so many health conditions conditions you wouldn't even believe from obesity insulin resistance, diabetes, right? Things that you would think have nothing to do with the gut and you know bacteria. You think, oh no, it's carbs, or God knows what most you know um mainstream news outlets or or health outlets would say. They would be like, oh, too many carbs, too much sugar, nonsense. like There's nothing
00:14:56
chrisyzen
There's not nothing to do with um insulin resistance and diabetes, have very little to do actually with sugar, believe it or not. I could probably do episodes on that in the
Endotoxin's Impact on Brain Health
00:15:08
chrisyzen
future. Email me if you want to hear more about that. Um maybe with obesity it does have more of a ah link you know ah sugar and cars carbohydrates and whatever but with when it comes to insulin resistance and diabetes endotoxin and polyunsaturated fats and and other things are a lot more implicated there so.
00:15:29
chrisyzen
Other things, endotoxin is implicated in his non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, um chronic infections, cardiovascular disease, neurodegenerative disease, um Parkinson's disease, which is on a type of neurodegenerative degenerative disease, and Alzheimer's disease. so This is very important to kind of grasp. If you have gut problems, it's not just a gut problem that you're having. That's why Hippocrates is credited with saying all disease begins begins in the gut. It's because if you have a gut problem like this intestinal permeability and a lot of endotoxin getting into the bloodstream causing inflammation, that causes the immune system activation. And when the immune system is activated chronically or dysregulated,
00:16:17
chrisyzen
you're going to have health issues come up over the the months and the years, especially when it becomes years and years and years. And some people are living and like with this gut dysbiosis for a decade or more. So this is very important for you to get a handle on, whether I'm not saying you have to you know work with me or my program, but for your own health for your own sake find somebody that knows what they're doing please because the longer you put this off the more health complications are bound to ensue right so please find help somehow somebody to really to guide you through this process because like i said the longer you put it off the more risk there is with this kind of chronic inflammation running rampant rampant in the
00:17:11
chrisyzen
first in the gut then it becomes like a systemic issue and so on and so forth right and here's the thing endotoxin apparently
00:17:21
chrisyzen
Once they're in the bloodstream, they can actually cause brain inflammation and hence why they're implicated in neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease.
Critique of Mainstream Health Advice
00:17:33
chrisyzen
right So apparently um they can cross the blood brain barrier, which is like a ah barrier in regions of the brain that prevents large molecules from coming in. Apparently, they can they can actually get through that. It probably has to do with the fact that there's a lipid, like a lipopolysaccharide, so there's a lipid sort of end to it, which probably makes it a little bit easier for for it to kind of um pass through me membranes that are designed to keep out a lot of bigger molecules.
00:18:05
chrisyzen
so Those are just some kind of, that's just a little bit of a primer on endotoxin. I don't want to get too too deep and too technical, but i hope I hope that you found some value out of this. I hope you see now why following mainstream advice is bound to get you in trouble. It's just really, really terrible. A lot of really dumbed down ideas, one-liners that we're fed that really don't make a lot of sense. Like we're told,
00:18:38
chrisyzen
our and ancestors would be eating like 100, 120 grams of fiber a day and they're recommending men, women to get like 30 to 50 grams of fiber a day and you know it's it's kind of weird to me that they're so adamant that we get so much of this fiber whereas other um recommended dietary allowances um would were being revised down like the zinc one at least for men that was revised down in recent years from 50 milligrams a day to 11 milligrams a day right so there's a lot of
00:19:18
chrisyzen
really messed up stuff going on in terms of like, you know, they were recommending for decades, it was they and they still are, they're recommending five to 10% of your calories to come from omega-6 polyunsaturated fats, where we know how freaking terrible, how horrendously harmful these fats are to have in our diet and they're recommending five to ten freaking percent of that so they're very good to recommend the harmful stuff make sure you get five ten percent of this where where little things like you know minerals um magnesium for example ah zinc um selenium a bunch of these very vital of very important things
00:20:07
chrisyzen
they're weird kind of thought you know you know you you get it you know if you eat if you eat three meals a day you you should you should get enough but they're very adamant to make sure you get your omega-3s every day and two two to four grams or whatever um you know your omega-6s your fiber your healthy quote unquote healthy whole grains all this nonsense all the vegetables they're very pushing vegetables as well and yet the the healthiest stuff beef and whatever red meat that's no that's really bad for you make sure you either skip it replace it with chicken or fish um or just the avoid it all together and you know get plant proteins like soy and this other disgusting crap a lot of which is
00:20:54
chrisyzen
GMO and sprayed to kingdom come with glyphosate and pesticides in a highly processed and a lot of these grains they have a lot of mold while in the field and a lot of them even if they're not grown with Glyph ah with glyphosate they might be desiccated with glyphosate when it's harvest time so very very really um just very horrible nutrition advice and the people in general follow this advice they've been following it since the 50s you know cutting out butter saturated fats
00:21:32
chrisyzen
cutting out um you know ah cholesterol eggs foods and replacing it with all these other things and people are getting sicker and sicker and sicker and sicker every single year every single decade the stats are going up just crazily precipitously right so it's clear that what they're recommending is terrible terrible advice and fiber is um no different Okay, so I hope that kind of helps you reframe this entire thing and um You know, they'll be sure I'll be showing more research in the future where that shows that um Fiber it it doesn't actually even it's not even proven
Conclusion and Gut Health Advocacy
00:22:16
chrisyzen
to actually help with constipation, which is what it's touted as so beneficial for, to prevent constipation or to help with constipation. And yet there's not actually... yeah Here's the thing, there is research, but a lot of it is associational. So epidemiology, where they do food surveys that people can barely remember what they ate last week. And then they're like, what did you eat over the last year or the last four years? And and then they use this crap, crap science, if you can even call it science, to then say, oh yeah, so high fi high fiber is associated with better health outcomes, right? But actual interventional studies are showing a lot of other stuff that these epidemi and epidemiological studies are not actually showing.
00:23:00
chrisyzen
So there's many different ways that this quote-unquote the science is spun. And then when you go like to like one of these mainstream health sites and then they show you all this fact-checked science with all these references and you start digging in, um a lot of it's just epidemic epidemiological garbage, right? That it's not even worth the paper it's printed on. You can't even use it as toilet paper. Because you're so constipated from meeting all the damn fiber that they're recommending and then the paper is not even too comfortable to what we bought with so so So that's what I think of that research Anyway, I hope you found this valuable
00:23:40
chrisyzen
stay tuned of course for future episodes and if you haven't yet watched my gut recovery masterclass make sure you check it out down below if you really have serious gut health issues and you have decided you want to be done with them once and for all that's the first step to take okay thanks for tuning in