Welcome to the Gut Health Guide, Protocol & 30-Day Challenge!

Our gut is one of the most important aspects of our health.

If our gut is generally healthy, so are we. If our gut is not healthy, then neither are we. It really is that simple.

But about two thirds of Americans are living with gut issues.

Acid reflux, heart burn, and Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

Gas and bloating, causing a protruding stomach that can’t be “exercised off.”

Leaky Gut, SIBO (Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth), Candida, H. Pylori and C. Diff.

Gluten reactions.

An imbalanced microbiome causing higher stress levels, poor energy, and much more.

If we want the healthiest body we can have, with high energy levels, an easy time maintaining our figure, healthier skin, a calmer mood, hormonal balance, lean muscle, and good sleep — then we need to take control of our gut.

Testosterone levels have been dropping for decades, while estrogen levels have risen sharply. And thyroid is a huge problem.

Hormonal imbalances are no longer just being deficient in one or another hormone.

There are exact chemicals in the environment, in our food, air, and water, which didn’t exist before, chemicals that block hormones from being created, block them from being able to communicate their instructions to a cell, disrupt their normal actions, or impersonate them entirely.

Stress, whether it’s physical, mental or emotional, can lead to:

Delayed healing responses in the body, a nervous system that is always “on,” worsened mood, inability to relax or fall asleep, decreased mental alertness or lowered ability to “think,” hormonal imbalances, cravings for sugary foods, and high cortisol levels which increase mental stress, lower our energy levels, and make it harder to lose weight, build muscle or recover fully from the daily load we put on our body

It doesn’t matter much “where” the stress comes from, as any point of stress triggers the same reactions in the body. And stress from any one of these three areas (physical, mental or emotional) raises stress in the other two areas.

But, just as stress in one area creates stress in another area, with each point of stress making the overall worse, it also works in the opposite direction.

Each point of stress we remove lightens the load overall and makes it easier to deal with the other points of stress.

It’s very simple. Let’s see where we’re at!

There are about 500 different species of bacteria. And between them, they ether produce or help to produce neurotransmitters in our body, such as Serotonin and GABA, which calm and relax us, de-stress us, allow us to fall asleep, and help to keep our hormones in balance so we can lose weight and add muscle.

Some of these bacteria eat the foods coming in such as amino acids, vitamins and other nutrients, and some actually produce amino acids, or vitamins, or other nutrients that the body can use or that other bacteria feed off of.

We’re seeing fat loss with muscle gain, faster muscle gain while continuing to lose fat, lower resting heart rate and blood pressure increased energy, lowered inflammation, bettered mood, significantly decreased cravings, and much more.

Physicians over thousands of years have observed a link between a patient’s mental state and how swiftly they recover. It is a long-standing axiom that people who are determined to get better and maintain a healthy frame of mind recover more quickly, with better results.

But what if we told you that it’s a two-way street? That specific health conditions can cause conditions like depression and anxiety?

In 1931, decades before the first antidepressant and antianxiety medications had been developed, a physician named Yaskin discovered that clinical depression is the earliest manifestation of pancreatic cancer. Further research demonstrated that patients who suffered from gastrointestinal malignancies carried the greatest risk of suicide – which was one of the first science-based flags indicating that the digestive system can have an impact on mental health.

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, nearly one in five adults in the U.S. live with a mental illness. Many of these people have been prescribed medication to treat conditions such as depression, ADHD, anxiety, and hundreds of other cataloged mental disorders.

But what if these mental illnesses weren’t the result of an imbalance in the brain, but instead were caused by something as simple as a yeast infection?

Well, we are not about to make a ridiculous statement like “All depression is caused by candida” or anything like that, but today we’re going to honestly review what effects an overgrowth of candida can have on your body and your mental health.

Furthermore, we’re going to provide guidance on how to resolve a candida infection.

The following is adapted from The Search for the Perfect Protein.

If you watch much TV, you’ve undoubtedly seen a heartburn medication commercial at some point. The makers of Pepcid and Zantac confidently tell us we can eat a hoagie with sausage...