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Welcome to the website for Jim Chialtas, L.Ac., and Laurel Acupuncture Clinic of Functional Medicine, located in San Diego.

Click on the tabs above to learn more about what Functional Medicine is, and about many of the health concerns I specialize in. Or scroll down for my blog. You might find it helpful to use the labels in the lower right column to find topics that interest you.

In addition to seeing clients privately in my clinic, I also offer many of the same services remotely to US residents. Please feel free to contact me to set up a consultation or appointment. Thank you!

5/5/15

30 Day Group Gut Repair / Anti-inflammatory “Cleanse” – Repairvite Program

“All disease begins in the gut.”  That quote has been referenced as far back as the times of ancient Greece, and it is supported by more and more modern research every day.  The surface area of the digestive system is enormous.  It is estimated to be between 30-40 square meters which is about the size of a tennis court.  Inflammation along the course of these organs may not even be noticeable as far as frank symptoms go, but that does not mean that it is not impacting your entire body.  Inflammation in the gut will always cross into the blood and impact all other systems in your physiology.  There is a strong gut/brain interaction for example.  An inflamed gut = and inflamed brain.  But the correlations do not stop there.  All major health concerns can have inflammation at their root.  Cancer, Autoimmune disease, Neurological decline, Diabetes, Arthritis, Obesity, Heart disease, etc. all have their roots with inflammation.  So lower inflammation in the gut and lower inflammation in the body at the same time.
 
The focus of this program is not actually to “cleanse” the body per se.  The term “cleanse” in my opinion is a very loaded word.  For some people it means being married to your toilet for several days.  For others is means detoxing the liver.  This program does not directly do either really.  It does involve a ton of fresh veggies, dark greens, berries, fruits, clean meats and healthy fats.  It is designed to dramatically reduce the amount of inflammatory foods that commonly irritate a person’s gut.   Eating this way will indeed be “detoxing” however.  This program involves foods which are very dense with nutrition. 

So what are inflammatory foods?  Well interestingly inflammatory foods are often times the foods we eat most often!  Grains for example have a tendency to be inflammatory for most people.  Now I know that goes against all of our training.  Whole grains are healthy right?  Well in some cases and in some people yes…  But it just so happens that of all the food sensitivities out there grains are at the top of the list!  And this is aside from the fact that all grains tend to elevate Insulin levels which is inflammatory all by itself.  Dairy is another high sensitivity food.  So the thrust of this program is to eliminate as many of the most commonly inflammatory foods as possible as step one of the process.  (The second step is supplements which I will discuss below.) 

The second dietary concept that people need to be aware of is that this is a program that involves quite a bit of animal protein.  (Sorry to any vegetarians reading this.)  The diet plan is basically a modified “Paleo Diet” which involves plenty of animal protein, lots and lots of veggies, most fruits, higher than normal intake of fermented foods, and a lot of healthy fats.    All grains, dairy, soy, eggs, nightshade plants (potato, tomato, eggplant, and peppers), nuts/seeds, & beans/legumes are all on the NO-NO list for the full 30 days.  (Among a few other things.)  I know that it sounds like a lot is missing, but people can live this way forever.  You would not be missing out on any nutrients and you will not starve!  The emotional loss of the comfort foods we all enjoy is the worst of it and that passes. 

The second part of the program and one that is not to be forgotten is the supplement part.  It is one thing to avoid all of the potentially irritating foods, but it is another thing to provide compounds shown to reduce inflammation and which work to rebuild the lining of the digestive tract.  Used together we have a very powerful gut repair and systemic anti-inflammatory program.  For the supplement part I choose to use two formulas.  The first formula is the backbone of the program which is the Repairvite Powder itself.  This powder is high in L-Glutamine which is widely known for healing the gut.  But it also contains Licorice Root Extract, Aloe Vera, Slippery Elm, Marshmallow, and other botanicals and compounds which all show benefit to the digestive tract.  The second formula is just a good high dose probiotic called Strengtia.  On this program you will consume 120 billion probiotic bugs per day.  That is a good healthy therapeutic dose which can help the digestive system in many ways.  As a third formula, for those who are interested, we can add in a formula for what I call a “killing spree.”  This is a formula called GI-Synergy which combines herbs and compounds to help eliminate Parasite, Yeast and Bacterial overgrowth.  I can discuss this on an individual basis.  These are strong herbs so I did not want to include that in the program for everyone.  If you have questions about this let’s talk in person.  The cost of the Supplements comes to $199.37 for the month.  ($80 extra for the GI-Synergy)


Think of this program as a vacation from many of the things in your diet that might be working against you!  It can be a struggle and there will be difficult parts, but that is where the group comes in.  We are all here to support each other…  Me included!  I will be doing this program along with the rest of you.  And we can all leave comments and questions for the group on a group forum.  It is important that we all interact with each other.  I will also be holding a pre- and post-meeting for those who are interested and/or in the area.  I think that it would be great to have a little potluck gathering in the last week of the program together for our closing meeting.  We can all bring in our favorite Repairvite-friendly foods to share!  I am asking for $225 even to take part which covers the supplements as well as the time and support that I will provide throughout the program.  I look forward to sharing this experience with you and being there for you all.  See you soon!

3 comments:

  1. I could have sworn I saw a group on facebook or something pop up about this last week but can't find it anywhere! What's the plan? Do we all meet at a certain day/time to get Repairvite and begin? I'm a little lost.

    ReplyDelete