As of late, the microbiome of the gut has taken center stage. You’re told to eat certain superfoods or supplements to feel better. You’re told you need to find a balance in your gut to solve the health issues you face. But is that really what it’s all about? What if your gut or health problems are caused or exacerbated by problems elsewhere in the body? 

While the food you put in your body is inevitably important, there are other factors at play. Do you move enough? How’s your sleep? Are you taking care of yourself mentally? How’s your dental health? When it comes down to it, optimal health isn’t just about the gut.

Further, today’s society exposes you to various toxic elements – many of which you likely aren’t aware of on a regular basis. These elements can drive you toward ill health. By interfering with the body’s natural healing abilities. They also create an imbalance amongst your internal tissue environment known as the Internal Milieu.

The Internal Milieu and Your Health

In European Biological Medicine, Chinese Medicine, and Ayurveda, health is considered to be a reflection of your Internal Milieu. The Internal Milieu extends beyond the gut microbiome and gut health. It incorporates other factors, such as tissue toxicity, PH, microbial landscape, blood pressure, and more. It involves seeing the body as a whole – as an ecosystem comprised of tissues, cells, systems, and organs.

When the ecosystem becomes imbalanced, such as acidic, the environment becomes more hospitable to harmful microbes and less optimal for good immune function and health. Think of your body’s environment like the soil in which a plant is placed. If the soil is healthy, even a sick plant will ultimately thrive. But if the soil is unhealthy, even the healthiest tree or plant will become sick when placed in that environment. Undoubtedly, this internal environment is key when it comes to healing and achieving optimal health.

In other words, the focus of healing should be on the Internal Milieu as opposed to specific symptoms. It’s like having a clean house over a dirty one. It’s being aware of when your health barrel is being maxed out. If you’re throwing medications, toxins, stress, lack of sleep, or problems at work into your barrel, it might overflow. This overflow leads to disease and illness. You need to find a balance. The body needs homeostasis and self-regulation –  not toxic overflow.

Balancing Your Internal Milieu: What is Modern Medicine Missing?

Perhaps you’ve been chasing the “cause” of your health problem for a while now. You’ve been through various treatments – none of which were particularly helpful. You’re desperate for a new perspective or an alternative route. 

Unfortunately, much of modern day medicine focuses on eliminating the symptoms as opposed to the cause. But ultimately, the healing process becomes much more efficient and effective once you understand and act to treat the Internal Milieu. And in the age of looming superbugs, it’s never been more important than now to properly care for your internal environment. So, let’s go beyond the gut microbiome and dive into other ways you can enhance the inner workings of your body to promote healing and better health. What’s the solution?

It’s About Creating Harmony – Not Just Treating The Symptoms

Ideally, you want your internal environment to support optimal cell health. If balance and harmony can be found at a cellular level, then overall health and well-being can be achieved and maintained. 

But how can you find harmony at a cellular level? It comes down to maintaining your internal environment through diet, the elimination or reduction of toxic substances, decreasing stress, keeping up-to-date with your dental health, and detoxifying the body. Below, we’ll explore these factors in more detail.

1. Try Out an Elimination Diet

Let’s start with the foundations – your diet. The phrase, “You are what you eat,” isn’t far from the truth. If you’re putting processed and chemically-altered food in your body, chances are you won’t feel that great. Yet, the elimination diet is making waves in the medical community. It has been used to help narrow down the possibility of celiac’s disease in individuals. It also can help with determining food allergies and other potential health issues. 

Essentially, it comes down to eliminating the foods that your body isn’t tolerating or that you suspect it isn’t tolerating well. In most cases, you re-introduce one food group or type back at a time. This helps narrow down what is causing you to feel not-so-great. It is a particularly good option for those experiencing severe digestive problems, such as diarrhea, constipation, bloating, gas, and serious discomfort. Basically, it helps you truly determine if your lack of good health is caused by what you’re putting in your body. Everyone’s body is different. Thus, yours may react differently to certain food types compared to the person next to you.

2. Avoiding or Limiting Toxic Substances

An elimination diet does this in some respects. However, you can avoid or limit the processed and chemically-altered food in your diet. Stick to eating real food as opposed to processed or pre-packaged items.

You can also do this when it comes to skincare, make-up, and other products you put on your skin or body. Go for more organic and less chemically enhanced products. Assess what you use or eat in your day-to-day life. Dispose of any potential toxic factors.

3. Decreasing the Stress in Your Life

Arguably, we live in a more stressful time than ever before. Our brain is overloaded with a constant in-flow of information and stimulation. And many of us don’t take the time to unload, reset, and relax. Ultimately, stress causes imbalances and a lack of homeostasis in the body. It can completely throw off your Internal Milieu leading to chronic diseases such as atherosclerosis, fatty liver disease, depression, and more. 

How does stress do this? It causes chronic inflammation through heightened stress hormone levels. 

Yet, by decreasing the stress in your life, you can limit these negative effects. Exercise regularly to combat stress. Participate in relaxing activities, such as meditation, progressive relaxation, deep breathing exercises, and more. Look for ways to improve your sleep. Remember, it’s not just about what you eat or about the gut microbiome. It’s also about adjusting your mindset and mental health toward a more balanced and positive state. Optimal mental and physical health go hand-in-hand. They are interlinked and both sides of the equation must be addressed.

Stress can completely throw off your Internal Milieu leading to chronic diseases such as atherosclerosis, fatty liver disease, depression, and more. 

4. Keeping Up-To-Date With Your Dental Health

Your dental health might not be the first thing that comes to mind when you’re trying to get to the root of your health problems. But it plays a bigger role than you may think.

In biological medicine, medical practitioners pay particular attention to what’s happening in the mouth. Interestingly, ill health can be caused by compounds used to fix a dental problem, such as those in a root canal, crowns, and more. These toxins in such procedures can decrease immunity leading to illness. When these components are taken away, individuals have got better. 

The lesson here? Keep on top of your dental health, as well as know what compounds are being placed in your mouth. They might be affecting your health!

5. Detoxifying The Body

While you can eliminate and avoid toxins to a certain extent, proactively looking for ways to detoxify the body may further guide you toward better health. Saunas, colonic irrigation, and certain suction therapies may help in this regard. Further, ensuring your consuming an adequate amount of water can help flush toxic compounds out of the body. After all, the body is about 60% water. Thus, it is necessary to help restore homeostasis to the Internal Milieu.

Surprisingly, even removing previous dental work falls under detoxification. These two methods may overlap depending on your individual situation and health. Such detoxification restores a balanced PH to the body, along with proper blood and fluid flow throughout the body. This allows your cells to communicate better with each other which promotes harmony in the internal environment.

For example, detoxification processes may have helped those suffering from cancer. Saunas help detoxify through the skin. Colonic irrigation detoxifies through the bowels. And special forms of suction massage draw the toxins out from the deep tissues. Along with the detoxification process of the body, a detoxification process of the mind should also be considered since the two are undeniably linked. Looking at detoxification from a holistic standpoint addresses all factors causing imbalances and illness in the body. 

Where Can You Improve?

Optimal health, recovery, and healing has to take into account caring for and optimizing the internal environment. Treating just the disease may not solve your health problems. The human body must be examined and treated from a holistic approach.

In other words, it’s not all about the gut microbiome or the gut itself. These issues are also rooted in other tissues and cells, as well as the mind. Don’t let your health barrel overflow. Take a more holistic approach. Examine the cause from a systems thinking perspective as opposed to just the symptoms. Find harmony of your Internal Milieu for optimal healing and health. Strive for the restoration of your body’s own self-regulatory capabilities.