I studied anatomy and physiology for 5 years at university and worked in health and wellness for years after that, and it was only recently that I realised that what I thought was the inside of my body, is actually the outside! I know, what on earth am I talking about right? So think about your body as a stretched doughnut; a hollow tube that runs through the centre of you from top to bottom. That hollow tube is your digestive tract, running from your mouth to, well the other end. Everything entering and passing through that tract is in fact still the outside world, until it gets absorbed through the gut lining and enters the bloodstream. So why am I talking about stretched doughnuts? I will use another analogy and question to explain. How good are your FENCES and how friendly are your NEIGHBOURS? Your fences are the barriers protecting you from the outside world, such as the gut lining, skin and lung membranes. The neighbours are essentially what you expose your fence to, so what you put into the doughnut, on your skin and breathe into your lungs.

Why do we need a FENCE?

Our fences are extremely important and intelligent as they protect our body from unwanted things, but at the same time allow for the absorption of wanted things like nutrients, vitamins, minerals and water. Without this function we wouldn’t survive, so we should really thank our body for having this highly specialised function. However, a fence only works properly when it gets maintenance. If you don’t look after your fence it will accumulate wear and tear and start falling apart. When this happens gaps start appearing between the panels and the unwanted things can start getting through. It’s not always easy to know when your fence needs repairing. A break in the skin is easy to see and protect while it heals, but when it is on the inside, you don’t always know it is happening or what is causing it. Fortunately, our brilliant bodies have ways of sending us signals to warn us our fence is breaking and they come in the form of symptoms. Our only job is to listen to these signals…

Eczema, skin rash, low energy, widespread inflammation and aches and pains, inflammatory disorders, autoimmune disease, brain fog, depression, nausea, nutrient deficiencies, food allergies and sensitivities, sinusitis, etc.

So it’s pretty obvious why the fence is important right? When the fences have gaps in them the body’s immune system has to wake up and start combating the unwanted foreign things which are getting in. If this keeps happening consistently we end up with an immune system that is always on and is very sensitive! The problem with this is that it produces constant symptoms and the immune system causes collateral damage to our own body when it is fighting foreign invaders. This, very briefly is what we call an autoimmune condition – an immune system which won’t shut down and causes damage to our own body.

The fences are the defence on a football team and the immune system is the goalkeeper. If the defence is not very good and attackers keep running through, it’s all down to the keeper to fight them off. The keeper starts to get very angry, shouts at his defence, kicks the goalposts in frustration and throws his water bottle into the crowd (collateral damage) and recruits more goalkeepers to come onto the pitch and do the same. You need a responsive immune system to protect your body, but if you make sure your fences are well maintained, the immune system will have a lot less to do which means fewer symptoms.

How to strengthen your fences

If you have been following us on facebook or instagram you will have seen that we have been releasing posts this week giving you tips on how to strengthen your barriers. Dr Jamie told you about the importance of healthy fats and also how a bone broth can help to heal a leaky gut. These are really good tips and I recommend you to try them. However, here is a list of a few things you can do to make your barriers as strong as possible:

• Bone broth (check out the linked article to find out why we rate it as a top barrier healing tool).
• Omega 3 fats (use this link to view one of our favourite sources of omega 3).
• Eat vegetables with every meal, especially the green ones! Vegetables are high in fibre which help the good bacteria in your gut to digest food, contain lots of vitamins and minerals which are needed by the body to function properly and repair cells and also reduce inflammation which can potentially damage barrier walls. The majority of your plate should be vegetables!

However also think about who your neighbours are, not Brenda next door, but what things your fences are interacting with. Unfriendly neighbours will hit against your fences and wear them out and cause gaps to appear quicker. If you want your barriers to heal you need to give them the things they need like above, but also avoid the things that are damaging them:

• Chemicals in shampoo, beauty products, hand sanitiser, detergent, cleaning products and sun cream can make your skin more porous so environmental substances can pass through and cause an inflammatory (immune) reaction.
• Inflammatory food – pro-inflammatory oils, trans fat (fried food), sugar, processed meat, and food allergies/sensitivities such as gluten or dairy.
• Chemicals in food like preservatives, flavourings and colouring.
• Medication/drugs often contain toxic chemicals which can damage our body – NSAIDs such as aspirin, ibuprofen and naproxen, are extremely damaging for our guts.
• Pollution which may contain harmful toxins which can damage the gut and lungs.

These are the basic guidelines however if you are already getting conditions like leaky gut and IBS you may need additional help from a health professional. A properly trained practitioner can give you guidance on things like fasting, probiotics and run tests to find out what things may be damaging your fences which you are unaware of. Please contact us for more information about these services.

Please leave a comment if you have any questions or feel free to email us.

Dr Judith