insights
The 5R Framework for Gut Health
A wide range of gastrointestinal symptoms and conditions can be treated with IFM’s 5R framework. This framework helps to support and heal the digestive tract. Vincent Pedre, MD is an IFM Certified Practitioner (IFMCP) who believes “the gut is the gateway to excellent health.”
TRANSCRIPT
My first interventions for gut health start with food, and I use the 5R approach.
The first R is Remove, so removing all the foods that people may be having a reaction to or an intolerance or other sensitivity. So first R is Remove, then Replace, Reinoculate, Repair, and Rebalance.
And when you Replace, you’re replacing enzymes, maybe missing enzymes, hydrochloric acid, bile, digestive enzymes. So anybody who has a food reaction you have to think that they have an enzyme deficiency, that they’re not breaking down their proteins properly.
And then Reinoculate: you’re rebuilding the gut flora.
Repair: you’re using things like bone broth, collagen powder, L-glutamine, to repair the gut lining.
And Rebalance is really all about lifestyle: meditation, having a balance between work and life, and making sure that there’s time for adult play. People forget to play and the importance of reducing stress in healing the gut.
