The Gut Health Blueprint
12 weeks, five arms, one pick each
Everything on this page is free. The stack, why each pick beat its alternatives, every option, the bloodwork and the safety lines. The week-by-week schedule and the decision rules are the members half.
Gut symptoms are the least specific in medicine. Bloating can be insufficient stomach acid or too much fermentation; those are opposite problems with opposite answers, and treating one as the other is why people spend years on the wrong supplements. The order matters more here than on any other page. Repair the barrier and get digestion working before adding fiber or probiotics — feeding a dysbiotic gut with prebiotics makes bloating worse, and that experience is what convinces people fiber is their enemy when the real problem was sequence.
Can you run all of them? Not this time - and here is why
This is a general protocol. You make the final call on how much of it to run — or have it built around your labs.
Which of these 5 is actually you?
This tells you where your biggest leverage is — where to start, not where to stop. Read the But line too: it is what each lane cannot do for you, which is the part a list of options never tells you.
Before any of it — the foundation
These four are not a disclaimer at the bottom of the page. They are the reason the rest of it works, and every one of them is free.
Growth hormone is released in pulses during deep sleep, insulin sensitivity is measurably worse after one bad night, and appetite regulation collapses without it. Every compound below works through a system that sleep already governs. This is not filler advice — it is the highest-leverage item on the page and it is free.
The single dietary variable with the most consistent evidence behind it for body composition, in both directions — building and preserving. Under-eating protein while running anything anabolic is paying for a signal with no substrate to act on.
Nothing here substitutes for mechanical tension. Compounds change how well you recover from and adapt to training; they do not replace the stimulus. A protocol run without training reliably produces the side effects and not the results.
Non-exercise activity is the largest and most variable component of daily energy expenditure, and it is the one that quietly falls when you start dieting. Tracking it stops the metabolic adaptation people blame on their thyroid.
The stack
Said once. Probiotics, peppermint oil, psyllium and glutamine have real randomized data. The peptide options are earlier. Unproven is not the same as ineffective, and each item's page carries its evidence tier. One thing specific to this goal: probiotic evidence is strain-specific, not species-specific. A trial on one strain says nothing about another with the same genus name, and almost all marketing ignores that.
Each pick names what it was chosen over and why. That is the difference between a blueprint and a list — if you disagree with a choice, the alternative is right there and swapping it does not break the rest.
Peptides 1
Short amino-acid chains that signal rather than force. Almost all are injected or intranasal, they need reconstituting, and they are the reason most people are on this site.
The peptide answer to a leaky barrier, and the one place oral dosing is genuinely appropriate — the target tissue IS the gut, so it does not need to survive first-pass to reach it. The proposed mechanism is angiogenesis and cytoprotection: new blood supply into damaged mucosa plus protection of the cells already there.
This arm has more genuinely distinct mechanisms than any other on the page, and they are not interchangeable. Larazotide targets tight junctions directly and is the one with celiac trial data. GLP-2 drives mucosal GROWTH — it is the mechanism behind teduglutide for short bowel syndrome, which is the most serious indication anything here treats. KPV is anti-inflammatory, an alpha-MSH fragment aimed at the inflamed gut rather than the leaky one. L-glutamine is fuel for the cells doing the repairing. Zinc carnosine adheres to the surface. BPC-157 is the base because it covers the widest range of gut presentations and because the oral route actually makes sense here. If your problem is specifically celiac-related permeability, larazotide is the more targeted answer — and if it is inflammation rather than permeability, KPV is.
Stack this arm deeper6 optional add-ons
Each of these sits in this same pathway, so it starts the week this pathway starts. Swapping one in for the pick above does not change the schedule.
A tripeptide fragment of alpha-MSH with strong anti-inflammatory signaling and a specific record in gut and skin. This is the arm to reach for when the problem is inflammation rather than permeability — IBD-type presentations rather than bloating.
The trade-off Human data is limited. Narrower than BPC-157 — it does little for a barrier that is leaky without being inflamed.
Targets tight junctions directly — the actual structures that fail in intestinal permeability. It is the one option here with real celiac trial data, developed specifically for gluten exposure in people already on a gluten-free diet.
The trade-off Very narrow by design. It addresses permeability and nothing else — no anti-inflammatory or growth effect — and its trials were in celiac disease specifically.
Drives actual mucosal growth — increased villus height and crypt depth, more absorptive surface. Its analog teduglutide is licensed for short bowel syndrome, which makes this the most clinically serious mechanism in the arm.
The trade-off Growth signaling in the gut is exactly what it sounds like — teduglutide's label carries a colonoscopy requirement because of neoplasia concern. Not a casual addition, and the reason it sits below rather than as the base.
Vasoactive intestinal peptide — named for the gut, and it regulates motility, secretion and mucosal immune tone all at once. The option that touches the nerve-immune side rather than the barrier itself.
The trade-off Very short half-life, usually intranasal, and it drops blood pressure. Its main clinical interest is chronic inflammatory response syndromes rather than ordinary gut complaints.
The primary fuel for enterocytes, which turn over every few days. Cheap, well tolerated, and it is the substrate the repair peptides above are asking the tissue to use.
The trade-off Slow and unglamorous. It supports repair rather than signaling it — which is why it complements the peptides rather than competing with them.
A chelate that adheres to the mucosal surface rather than absorbing immediately — used in Japan for gastric ulcer, a more specific track record than most gut supplements have.
The trade-off Zinc over a long course competes with copper. Not one to run indefinitely without checking.
Bacteriostatic water
4 of the compounds in this stack ship as a freeze-dried powder and have to be reconstituted before they are anything. Bacteriostatic water is the diluent — sterile water with 0.9% benzyl alcohol, which is what lets a vial be drawn from more than once. It does not come with the vial, and it is the one item on this page you will buy again every time. Work out your dilution →
Running several vials at once? Flawless Compounds sells a vial case — optional, but it is what keeps a fridge shelf of half-used vials from becoming a guessing game.
Health supplements & substrate
The floor underneath the compounds. Cheap, well tolerated, and the part that decides whether anything above it has a fair chance — a secretagogue on a magnesium deficiency is a rounding error.
Digestive output — acid, enzymes & bileBetaine HCl5 options
5 options — 0 to swap in, 5 to stack ontap to collapse
Microbiome composition & prebiotic substrateSaccharomyces boulardii2 options
2 options — 0 to swap in, 2 to stack ontap to collapse
Motility, IBS & the brain-gut axisPeppermint Oil5 options
5 options — 0 to swap in, 5 to stack ontap to collapse
Overgrowth, dysbiosis & antimicrobialsBerberine2 options
2 options — 0 to swap in, 2 to stack ontap to collapse
The 12-week schedule
Phase one is below in full, free, so you can see exactly what starting looks like — one more item arrives later and 2 come out before the end. What changes, and when, is the part you are paying for — and it is what decides whether 12 weeks of effort compounds or just runs in parallel.
Repair the lining and get food actually broken down before changing anything about the microbiome.
No fiber, no probiotics yet. This is the phase people skip in their hurry to fix the microbiome, and skipping it is why the next phase so often goes badly.
Now add organisms, and address the specific symptom.
Only once the first two phases are settled.
Most of this can stop; some should not.
The goal is a wider diet, not a permanent protocol.
The rest of the schedule is inside Skool
- The remaining 4 phases in full — what each one is for and what it changes
- Which phase the one later item arrives in, and why it waits instead of starting on day one
- The dose for every item in every phase — they are not the same across phases, and that is the point
- What comes out, when, and what happens if you leave them in
- The 5 decision rules — what to change when it is not working, and how to tell a real stall from noise
Everything above this line is free and stays free — the compounds, why each one is here, what to test, and the lines I would stop at. Each compound’s dose is free on its own page too. What you cannot get anywhere else is the order, and the order is what decides whether 12 weeks of effort compounds or just runs in parallel. That is the half worth paying for, so that is the half behind the door.
Unlock the schedule — $10/mo →Bloodwork
Gut problems show up as nutrient problems, and that is what this panel is looking for. Malabsorption presents as low ferritin, low B12 and low vitamin D long before anything else declares itself. One test worth insisting on: celiac serology, BEFORE removing gluten. The test measures your immune response to gluten — remove it first and the result is a false negative, and you will never know. People do this constantly and then face a six-week gluten challenge to get a real answer. hs-CRP tracks inflammatory load. Fecal calprotectin is not on this panel because it is a stool test, but it is the one that distinguishes inflammatory bowel disease from IBS — worth asking for if symptoms are severe.
Before you start
Everything, drawn before you start. This is the one that decides which pathway is actually yours - and the only one you cannot go back and collect later.
Around week 8
The short list, drawn while you are running it. Not a progress report - it is the draw that catches the things that go wrong quietly.
After
Drawn at the end, against your own baseline. This is what turns the protocol into information rather than a feeling.
All three are drawn at Quest, 2,000+ US locations, no doctor visit, HSA/FSA eligible. Prefer to pick and choose? Every marker above links to its own page, and the panel builder assembles any combination.
Adjusting it
A protocol you cannot adjust is a protocol you abandon. 5 situations come up on nearly every run of this — bloating got worse on probiotics or fiber, betaine HCl caused burning, no change at 12 weeks and symptoms are clearly food-triggered, and 1 more. Each one has a specific answer, and the wrong answer to a stall is the reason most people end up on six compounds that each do nothing.
The 5 decision rules are inside
The situations above, each with what to change, what to leave alone, and how to tell a real stall from noise. $10/mo.
Unlock the decision rules →The lines I'd stop at
- Blood in the stool, or black tarry stools. That is investigation, not supplementation, regardless of how likely hemorrhoids seem.
- Unintended weight loss, night sweats, or a fever alongside gut symptoms. Those raise possibilities no protocol addresses.
- New persistent symptoms starting after 50, or a change in bowel habit that has lasted more than three weeks. That is a screening conversation and the threshold for it should be low.
- Blood in the stool, black tarry stools, or unexplained weight loss. Those are investigated, never supplemented.
- Severe abdominal pain with fever, or vomiting that will not stop.
- A change in bowel habit lasting more than six weeks in anyone over 50, or with a family history of bowel cancer.
- Difficulty swallowing, or food sticking. That always warrants a scope.
It is built for the common case, not for you specifically. Compound selection and dosing genuinely do change person to person — training age, bloodwork, what you have run before, what you react to. Adjust it against your own numbers using the panels above, or if you want it built around your labs rather than the average, that is what 1-on-1 coaching is for. Between the two: fifteen minutes with Cam is $75.
See every option for this goal → · Open the Vault