What Is Leaky Gut? Symptoms + Simple Functional Nutrition Tips
🧠By Kea Schwarz, MS, RD | Dietitiankea.com
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Struggling with bloating, fatigue, brain fog, or mysterious food sensitivities? It might not be “just stress.” Leaky gut—also known as increased intestinal permeability—may be at the root of your symptoms. As a functional dietitian, I work with many clients whose digestive issues seem to defy basic fixes. That’s where understanding leaky gut can be a game changer.
🧬 What Is Leaky Gut, Really?
The lining of your gut acts like a selective barrier. It allows nutrients through while keeping bacteria, toxins, and undigested food particles out of the bloodstream.
When this barrier is compromised—due to inflammation, stress, poor diet, medications, or even infections—it can become “leaky.” This allows harmful substances to slip into circulation, triggering an immune response and low-grade systemic inflammation.
This is what we call leaky gut. It's not a fringe idea—researchers refer to it as increased intestinal permeability and it's been linked to:
IBS & IBD
Food sensitivities
Autoimmune conditions (like Hashimoto’s)
Fatigue and brain fog
Skin issues like eczema or acne
Mood and mental health struggles
🚨 Common Symptoms of Leaky Gut
You may have increased intestinal permeability if you’re experiencing:
Bloating, gas, or discomfort after meals
Irregular bowel movements (constipation or diarrhea)
Multiple food sensitivities (especially new ones)
Brain fog or difficulty concentrating
Fatigue despite sleeping enough
Skin rashes or “mystery” breakouts
Joint pain or chronic inflammation
Even without a formal diagnosis, these are clues your gut lining needs support.
5 Functional Nutrition Fixes to Start Healing a Leaky Gut
1. Remove Gut Irritants (Food & Lifestyle)
Before jumping into expensive supplements, healing starts with subtraction: remove what’s harming your gut. This includes ultra-processed foods, added sugars, alcohol, and in many cases, excess gluten and conventional dairy—especially if you're sensitive.
Instead, try experimenting with easy-to-digest, gut-friendly swaps like cassava pasta or sorghum flour as alternatives to typical wheat products. These whole food-based options are naturally gluten-free and less likely to inflame a compromised gut.
Lifestyle factors matter just as much. Overuse of NSAIDs (like ibuprofen), smoking, chronic stress, and poor sleep all disrupt gut integrity. A slow, sustainable approach to stress and toxin reduction sets the stage for deeper healing.
2. Eat More Nutrient-Dense, Anti-Inflammatory Foods
Healing your gut lining means feeding your body the raw materials it needs to rebuild. Focus on cooked, colorful, anti-inflammatory meals built around:
Bone broth or mineral-rich veggie broth
Wild-caught fatty fish (omega-3s help reduce gut inflammation)
Cooked, seasonal vegetables
Polyphenol-rich fruits like blueberries, raspberries, and pomegranate
If fresh fruit is hard to come by or out of season, a spoonful of organic pomegranate powder can be a fantastic addition to smoothies, oatmeal, or herbal teas.
Think of this step as calming the internal fire. These foods nourish your microbiome, modulate inflammation, and supply antioxidants needed for tissue repair.
3. Add Gut-Healing Nutrients
Certain nutrients have a targeted role in sealing the gut barrier. Some of the most studied and practitioner-recommended include:
L-glutamine – an amino acid that fuels intestinal cells
Zinc carnosine – shown to help soothe and protect the gut lining
Aloe vera – supports the mucosal layer and calms inflammation
You can easily add L-glutamine powder to a morning smoothie or take it mixed in water. I also recommend sipping aloe vera juice in the morning—start small and work up to about 1–2 oz/day if tolerated.
Always check with your provider if you’re on medications, but these are staples in most functional nutrition gut protocols.
4. Rebuild With the 4R Protocol (Functional Medicine Approach)
Functional practitioners often use the 4R framework to systematically support gut repair:
Remove harmful foods and pathogens
Replace missing digestive elements (like enzymes or acid)
Reinoculate with beneficial bacteria (probiotics and prebiotics)
Repair the gut lining with targeted nutrients
For example, if you’re struggling with gas, bloating, or undigested food in stool, your body may benefit from digestive bitters or a broad-spectrum enzyme supplement to enhance digestion and absorption.
This approach is strategic, gentle, and personalized—it’s not about dumping probiotics into a dysfunctional system. You build a new foundation, step by step.
5. Focus on Your Nervous System
Stress isn’t just emotional—it has physical consequences for your gut. High cortisol impairs stomach acid, slows motility, and increases inflammation and permeability.
Supporting the nervous system is often the missing link in gut healing. I recommend:
Practicing 1–2 minutes of deep belly breathing before meals
Walking barefoot outside or gardening to help regulate your vagus nerve
Ending your day with calming herbal teas like chamomile or lemon balm tincture
One of my favorite gentle blends is this organic calming tea, which combines gut-soothing herbs with naturally calming ones—great before bed or when stress flares up digestion.
🧾 Leaky Gut Can Be Healed—But It Takes Consistency
Leaky gut isn’t fixed overnight. But with the right foods, simple routines, and lifestyle shifts, you can begin to:
✔️ Improve digestion
✔️ Reduce cravings and energy crashes
✔️ Clear brain fog
✔️ Strengthen your immune system
📩 Get My Free Daily Gut Checklist
💡 Want to Go Deeper?
My upcoming Gut Reset Protocol walks you through my 4-week food + lifestyle system.
My Gut-Healing Drink Recipe Book is coming soon—packed with anti-inflammatory sips for daily use.
Or, work with me 1:1 to create your personalized healing plan.
