Is your mental health suffering? Is your energy level low? Are you having unexplained skin issues, even with a great skin care routine? Do you have to quickly run to the bathroom after meals? Did you recently develop a random food intolerance or sensitivity? Are you suddenly unable to fit in your jeans or favorite shirt? Is bloating making you miserable?
This was me... until I healed my gut.
Gut health has gained a lot of popularity over recent years, and for good reason.
What is the "gut"?
What am I even talking about when I say “the gut”.
Simply put, the gut is your digestive tract/gastrointestinal system (basically the stomach, intestines, and colon). Though it sounds simple, this system is very complex.
The Gut Microbiome
Within your gut there is a microbial community of bad and good bacteria. This is known as the microbiome. The hope is to keep this bacteria balanced, and the goal is to have more good bacteria than bad. (There is also more information on this balance in my previous blog, view here.)
The Enteric Nervous System: The brain-gut relationship:
Essentially our bodies work as one entity. It may sound like common sense, but often times when considering our health, we look at it through each organ system individually, rather than the body as a whole.
There’s an entire nervous system dedicated to your gut and the gut-brain relationship. This is known as the Enteric Nervous System. Your entire digestive tract is connected to your brain and nervous system, thus the digestive system connects to your entire body. Essentially our bodies work as one entity. It may sound like common sense, but often times when considering our health, we look at it through each organ system individually, rather than the body as a whole. 1.
The best example of this brain/gut relationship is stress and the fight or flight response. When a stressor occurs, our body focuses on that stress, and goes into fight or flight response. However, the body will react similarly if you were to be attacked by a tiger as it would if you were late to work. The body will temporarily stop non-essential functions, such as digestion, in order to keep you alive. (Because the last thing you want when fighting for your life from a tiger, is to take a bathroom break.) Usually if you are running late to work, this won’t cause a huge issue because the stress soon resolves itself. However, when there is constant and chronic stress in your life, this forces the body to be in constant fight or flight mode. Whenever the enteric nervous system is triggered or disrupted, such as stress triggering it to pause all activity, it effects the microbiome in your gut.
Now we know that stress can inhibit a healthy gut, but there are so many other factors that can do this as well such as alcohol, lack of sleep, lack of exercise, an unbalanced diet, consuming foods that you are intolerant, sensitive, or allergic to, antibiotic medications, and more.
Why is this important?
Things impacted by gut health -- It affects a lot more than we realize!
When your gut is threatened this can lead to many responses in the body including the following:
◦ Overall disfunction of digestion and the GI tract
◦ Complications during the digestion and absorption of certain foods nutrients and medication
◦ Energy levels lower
◦ Immune system disfunction: a large part of our immune system is located around the lining of our gut, meaning that any gut issues directly effects the immune system
◦ Sleep problems: This can effect your ability to get enough deep sleep or enough sleep in general
◦ Appetite, metabolism, and weight fluctuations
◦ Mental and emotional health decline including mental illness, ability to focus, cognitive function, and more
Your whole body can be thrown off if the gut is imbalanced. For a short period of time, an imbalanced gut may bring about some negative symptoms, but overtime, any of those issues could be affected negatively and could cause detrimental, long-term effects including chronic illness.
Symptoms of unhealthy or unbalanced gut
• Stomach/Digestion issues-Bloating, gas, bloating, diarrhea, constipation, abdominal pain (signs of IBS).
• Fatigue-constantly being tired, drained, and no energy. Feeling sluggish. • Not being able to get good sleep at night.
• Food cravings, especially sugar, refined carbs, and “junk food”.
◦ That bad bacteria THRIVES off of sugar. That’s how it is fed and is how it lives. So when there's an excess of bad bacteria in your gut, it tells your body that it needs to be fed, and it needs to be fed with the food that fuels it.
• Feeling unwell emotionally/mentally: Mood issues, mood swings, depression, anxiety, etc.
• Having trouble controlling your weight-especially unexplained weight fluctuation.
• Skin issues-acne, psoriasis, and eczema.
• Respiratory issues, allergies
• Migraines
• Food intolerances/sensitivities
• Brain fog and inability to focus How to know if you need to heal your gut • Chronic symptoms, and nothing else works.
There’s almost an endless list of signs that your gut needs healing, but many of these signs and symptoms may have other causes. 1. 2. 3. Often times, individuals with an imbalanced gut, only find this out due to trying other methods to solve their signs/symptoms, and those methods not working. Researchers are working on developing tests for the microbiome, but it is very small and limited. Currently, a test can only see what bacteria is in your stool, meaning the bacteria the body is getting rid of, not the bacteria currently living inside the gut. 3. 5.
It is difficult to know for sure if your gut is the true problem, but methods towards improving gut health may improve your signs and symptoms.
However, this does not mean if you have a sign or symptom, that you should automatically assume it is a gut issue. A chronic or detrimental issue could be hiding behind these signs and symptoms. It is important to always discuss with your health care team when deciding the right approach for you.
If you do find that your gut may be causing you issues, the good news is that you are likely able to heal your gut with some simple lifestyle changes, which you can read all about in the next blog post.
Sources:
1. Konkel L. What Is Your Gut Telling You? Exploring the Role of the Microbiome in Gut–Brain Signaling. Environmental Health Perspectives. 2018;126(6):062001. doi:10.1289/ehp3127
2. Aslam H, Green J, Jacka FN, et al. Fermented foods, the gut and mental health: A mechanistic overview with implications for depression and anxiety. Nutritional Neuroscience. 2018;23(9):659-671. doi:10.1080/1028415x.2018.1544332
3. Khaliq A, Ravixndran R, Afzal S, et al. Gut microbiome dysbiosis and correlation with blood biomarkers in active-tuberculosis in endemic setting. PLOS ONE. 2021;16(1). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0245534
4. Bentur L, Gur M. Faculty opinions recommendation of intestinal microbiota and ALLERGIC diseases: A systematic review. Faculty Opinions – Post-Publication Peer Review of the Biomedical Literature. 2017. doi:10.3410/f.725704737.793540392
5. Valeriani F, Agodi A, Casini B, et al. Potential testing of reprocessing procedures by real-time polymerase chain reaction: A multicenter study of colonoscopy devices. American Journal of Infection Control. 2018;46(2):159-164. doi:10.1016/j.ajic.2017.08.008