Why should I care about gut health?
“Healing the gut is the single most important step we can take to ensure our life long health”
– Alejandro Junger, M.D. , author Clean Gut
While the gut can be described as our entire digestive tract it is usually referring to our small and large intestines and although used to be considered the forgotten organ(s), it is currently a major focus in scientific research and many fascinating discoveries and breakthroughs are being discovered every day . In fact, according to the Journal of agricultural and food chemistry, “our guts control and deal with every aspect of our health”. The guts house the majority of our immune system , our detox system and believe it or not our “brain” neurotransmitters, including serotonin, (the happy hormone).
Our guts are a lively home to trillions and trillions of bacteria, yeasts and fungi called the gut flora or microbiome. When healthy it can aid in all the guts function like digestion, immunity and strengthen our gut-mind connection. It also help resistance to colonisation of harmful (pathogenic) bacteria. Our guts are a balanced ecosystem that is built up by our actions, our diets and our environmental exposures.
Whether we think about it or not there are 10 times more bacteria in our guts than there are human cells. This is a good thing when the right bacteria and yeasts have populated our gut. The problem is this living ecosystem is sensitive to some things and can be easily knocked off balance. Knocked off by things like the antibiotics in our food , a diet high in sugar and carbohydrates, alcohol ( as little as 2 glasses per day), high levels of stress, and chemicals in our environment like pesticides.
Some of these situations can kill off bacteria and give the chance for the harmful bacteria to populate. If the harmful bacteria start to outweigh the beneficial ones, our flora will become off balanced and compromised (dysbiosis). This dysbiosis can contribute to leaky gut syndrome and is connected to food sensitivities, digestive issues like constipation and diarrhea, fatigue, insomnia, constant colds, skin issues like eczema and acne, lack of energy, achy, brain fog, depressive moods and anxiety.
Keeping our gut healthy is absolutely essential for improving our mental and physical health. A lot of the time this can be done with lifestyle and diet changes. With lifestyle make sure to get a good night’s sleep, exercise and include a daily healthy stress relief activity , like meditation or yoga. And for diet make sure to eat a diverse range of foods, including lots of fruit and veggies, foods rich in inulin and fibre and consume fermented foods and beverages daily.
Research from the US National Library of Medicine says that eating and drinking fermented foods and beverages provides bioavailability of nutrients as well as supplying dietary fibers, essential micronutrients, enzymes, lactic acid bacteria, and organic acids, all of which are crucial for good health.
Your health starts, ends and begins again in your gut. If you can heal and love your gut it will heal and love you.