What ‘Gut Type’ Do You Have?

Different body types share a lot of unique qualities. For example, you probably know your blood type, skin type, allergies, and family history of certain diseases. Not many know their gut type, though. That’s right, many struggle with stress gut, autoimmune gut, toxic gut, gastric gut, or a dysbiotic gut and don’t even know it!

How do you know which gut type you have? Most people have one of five gut types, and each tells you something different about your health. The good news is that your gut type is not permanent. It can change. 

As I always say, the gut is the gateway to health. Up to 80% of your immune system is located in your gut.

If you don’t have a healthy gut, you can’t have a healthy immune system. Knowing your gut type can help you take better control of your health. 

I am going to tell you how you can determine your gut type and the best way to support your gut health. Before I get into that, let me tell you about the five gut types. 

What Is Your Gut Type?

Whether you have a toxic gut, dysbiotic gut, autoimmune gut, or stress gut, the root cause of your symptoms starts with the state of your microbiome. Understanding your gut type is the first step to healing your gut. Here are the five different gut types:  

1. Stress Gut

I saw thousands of patients whose autoimmune or other chronic diseases were stress-related. Stress and gut health are closely linked. As a matter of fact, the brain and digestive system share a two-way connection. Not only does a healthy gut affect your mind, but your mental state also affects how your gut functions. Stress gut is a cycle that affects several areas of the body.

When you experience any kind of stress (physical, emotional, or mental), your body processes it the same way. It all goes through the adrenal glands. The adrenal glands respond by creating a flood of stress hormones. Cortisol shuts down your digestive system and causes adrenal fatigue. 

What’s more, when your digestive system shuts down, your gut and immune system are vulnerable to harmful bacteria. These harmful bacteria multiply. This can lead to Candida overgrowth or Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO). 

If you have Candida or SIBO, you probably deal with gas, bloating, constipation, and fatigue. Other sign you have stress gut include:

• Decreased libido
• Trouble sleeping
• Hormone imbalances
• Anxiety
• Brain fog

If you think you have stress gut, I recommend taking a high-quality probiotic. Probiotics support a healthy balance of gut bacteria. Adaptogenic herbs support optimal stress response and adrenal health. Together, they promote healthy gut function. Avoid eating toxic foods such as refined sugar, alcohol, and caffeine. These can make your symptoms worse. 

A Note About Gluten and Dairy

Regardless of your blood type, I strongly recommend you remove gluten and dairy from your diet.

Gluten is a protein found in wheat and certain grains. It’s the number one culprit of several gut infections such as leaky gut and SIBO. Gluten triggers the release of zonulin in your intestines. Zonulin is a chemical that tells your gut lining to “open up”. Gluten is also highly inflammatory and can cause stress to your immune system. Unchecked, it often leads to autoimmune disease.

The problem with dairy is that it contains lactose, whey, and casein. People with sensitivities don’t produce the lactase enzyme, which helps break lactose down. 

Those who react poorly to milk are responding to the two proteins found in milk, casein and whey. Even if you still produce the lactase enzyme, you may still have sensitivities. Casein is a protein with a very similar molecular structure to gluten. Of those who are gluten intolerant, 50% of people are casein intolerant as well.

2. Toxic Gut

Your body is exposed to thousands of toxins every day. They are in the food we eat, the clothes we wear, the cleaning products we use, and even your body products and cosmetics. Each exposure adds to your body’s toxic burden. 

Inflammation often begins in the gut.

Your body is exposed to thousands of toxins every day. The food we eat, clothes we wear, and cleaning products we use all contain toxic ingredients. Even your body products and cosmetics can be harmful. Each exposure adds to your body’s toxic burden. 

Toxic gut happens when this burden is too much for your body to bear. Inflammation often begins in the gut.¹

The constant exposure to toxins in our food and environment leads to leaky gut. When your gut is leaky, toxins, microbes, and undigested food particles can escape your gut. Once it enters your bloodstream, it can wreak havoc on your health.

Think of your body like a cup and toxins like drops of water. If your cup is already full because you have a leaky gut, those small toxic exposures can quickly add up. In time, that cup overflows. When it does, you’re pushed down the autoimmune spectrum into full-fledged autoimmune disease. 

The autoimmune spectrum works like this: No symptoms → some (1 symptom, 1 to 2 times per month) → mild (1-2 symptoms, 1-2 times per week) → moderate (2-3 symptoms most days) → severe (more than 3 symptoms every day) → autoimmune disease diagnosis. 

Signs you have a toxic gut include: 

• Brittle nails and hair
• Skin problems including acne or dry skin
• Food sensitivities and seasonal allergies
• Mood imbalances such as depression and anxiety
• Abdominal cramping
• Fatigue
• Digestive issues such as gas, bloating, diarrhea, or irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). 

If you believe you have a toxic gut, the first step is to limit your exposure to toxins. By doing this, you lower your body’s toxic burden. Consider getting a HEPA air filter for your home or office to keep the air inside your home as toxin-free as possible. I also recommend high-quality water filters on your sinks and shower taps. I have a full-house filtration system in my new home in Santa Fe, New Mexico. It feels great knowing that my family drinks and bathes in clean water every day.  

Changing your diet is another great way to limit your exposure to toxins. Eating only organic foods is ideal, but I know this can be expensive. Try to buy organic meat and seafood if you’re just starting out. Animals are at the top of the food chain, so if they’re consuming pesticides in their feed, you are too. 

3. Dysbiotic Gut

If you’re eating a diet high in refined carbohydrates, sugar, and alcohol, you feed the SIBO and yeast (Candida). It doesn’t take long for everything to grow even more out of control. This process is known as a dysbiotic gut.

Certain medications can also cause dysbiotic gut. Antibiotics, acid-blocking drugs, birth control pills, and steroids are the biggest culprits. As dysbiosis gets out of control, your immune system has trouble functioning properly. Remember, 80% of your immune system is in the gut. A faulty immune system leaves you susceptible to more serious infections. which may require more antibiotics. The cycle just keeps going from here. 

Over time, having this dysbiosis in your gut microbiome will eventually lead to a leaky gut. At this stage, food particles, toxins, and microbes cross the gut lining and enter your bloodstream. Your immune system detects them as foreign invaders and attacks them. This process is called molecular mimicry.²

It’s a cycle that works like this: Altered gut microbiome or dysbiosis → leaky gut → food, toxins, and infections into the bloodstream →  immune system attacks the body due to molecular mimicry →  autoimmune disease.

Signs you have a dysbiotic gut include:

• Fatigue
• Frequent gas
• Weight gain
• Sugar cravings
• Leaky gut
• Constipation
• Food sensitivities

To heal a dysbiotic gut, I recommend collagen bone broth, a high-quality probiotic. Both support a healthy balance of gut bacteria. Another important aspect to gut healing is Leaky Gut Revive®. This nutrient and botanical blend supports gut cell regeneration and heals leaky gut. I also recommend avoiding sugar, processed foods, and alcohol. Eating a low-FODMAP diet can help tremendously with this.

4. Autoimmune Gut

If you have an autoimmune gut, you likely have more than one food sensitivity. The biggest culprit behind autoimmune gut is food sensitivities, especially gluten and dairy. Besides these, this type is also caused by the long-term use of antibiotics.³

Antibiotics have one job: kill bacteria and stop them from multiplying. The problem is that it leads to disruptions in your gut microbiome. Antibiotics cannot tell the difference between good bacteria and bad bacteria. When antibiotics enter your system and kill off bacteria left and right, it throws your microbiome balance out of whack. 

Your gut microbiome is a unique ecosystem with interacting organisms. In a healthy state, they all live in harmony with one another. I like to think of the gut microbiome as a rainforest with many different species living together. Too few or too many microorganisms can cause an array of issues in your gut. The most common disorders I see include leaky gut, SIBO, or Candida overgrowth. What’s dangerous about these disorders is that they often precede autoimmune disease.

Signs of an autoimmune gut include:

• Skin problems
• Autoimmune disease
• Allergies
• Weakened immune system

The best way to reverse an autoimmune gut is to try a 30-day elimination diet. By eliminating certain foods, you can determine if you have food sensitivities. Sugar, alcohol, caffeine, artificial sweeteners, processed foods, and GMOs are off limits during this diet. The second part is removing inflammatory foods. Yes, that means avoiding gluten, dairy, soy, nightshades, citrus, and legumes. 

After 30 days, you reintroduce these foods (except gluten and dairy) one by one. During the reintroduction phase, monitor your body’s reactions and symptoms. You’ll be able to better identify which foods you are sensitive to. 

5. Gastric Gut

If you have a gastric gut, your lower esophageal sphincter (LES), located at the entrance of your stomach, is not closing properly. This allows stomach acid to enter the esophagus. You may experience heartburn, bloating and frequent gas. 

Gastric gut is commonly a result of eating too fast or poor digestion. Other factors that lead to a gastric gut include obesity, pregnancy, smoking, eating large meals late at night, fatty foods, alcohol use, and the use of NSAIDs.

Signs you have a gastric gut include:

• Gas
• Bloating
• Acid reflux
• Feeling full after meals
• Feeling hungry shortly after eating

To reverse this gut type, I recommend taking digestive enzymes. Adding digestive enzymes supports optimal digestion and nutrient absorption. You’ll also avoid certain foods that can trigger acid reflux. Citrus fruits, nightshade vegetables, and fatty foods are among the biggest triggers of reflux. Avoid those foods if you think you have a gastric gut. 

Lowering the amount of stomach acid you have can also impact the gastric gut. Gut Restore with Betaine & HCL balances stomach acid while keeping your pH levels in check. It also activates enzymes to help you break your food down more efficiently.

Now that you understand different gut types, let me share my proven gut healing method with you. I’ve used it with thousands of patients to heal their gut –  I call it The Myers Way®. 

Heal Your Gut With The Myers Way®

Conventional medicine seeks a diagnosis and medicates symptoms. Unfortunately, it fails to get to the root cause of the symptoms and the disease. I knew there had to be a better way, which is why many years ago I created The Myers Way®. 

The Myers Way® is an approach that rests on 4 pillars. Each of these pillars has been tested through extensive research. and has seen amazing results with thousands of patients over my own years of practice as a physician. It all begins with healing your gut. In functional medicine, we use the 4R approach to repair your gut.  

1. Remove the Bad

The goal is to get rid of things that negatively affect the environment of the GI tract. such Inflammatory foods, infections, alcohol, caffeine, or drugs should go first. 

Other inflammatory foods like gluten, dairy, corn, soy, eggs, and sugar are next to go. These can lead to food sensitivities. I recommend The Myers Way® and IgG food sensitivity testing to determine if any foods are a problem for you. 

2. Restore What Is Missing

Add in essential ingredients for proper digestion and absorption. This includes digestive enzymes, Gut Restore with Betaine & HC and bile acids that are required for proper digestion.

3. Reinoculate Beneficial Bacteria

Restoring beneficial bacteria is critical to re-establishing a healthy microbiome. Choose a high-quality probiotic that contains beneficial bacteria like bifidobacteria and lactobacillus. I recommend anywhere from 20 to 100 billion units a day.  

4. Repair Your Gut

Lastly, give your gut the nutrients it needs to repair itself. My most comprehensive weapon against leaky gut is Leaky Gut Revive®. It contains powerful gut-repairing ingredients like L-glutamine, aloe, licorice, slippery elm, and marshmallow root. 

These ingredients enable Leaky Gut Revive® to nourish and soothe your gut cells. It restores your gut’s natural mucosal lining and maximizes gut-mending fatty acid production. Another one of my favorites is high-quality collagen powder. Collagen is rich in amino acids that  “seal the leaks” in your gut by repairing damaged cells and building new tissue. Other key nutrients include zinc, omega-3 fish oils, and vitamins A, C, and E. Herbs like slippery elm and aloe vera also help repair and restore healthy gut function.

Understanding your gut type is the first step in taking control of your health. Whether you have a toxic gut, autoimmune gut, dysbiotic gut, or stress gut, there is a solution for all of this. By using the 4R approach, you can heal your gut regardless of your gut type. Remember, your gut type is not permanent, and you CAN achieve optimal health!