Gut health has gained a lot of popularity over recent years, and for good reason.

Could your gut health be the cause of your symptoms?

Is your mental health suffering? Do you have low energy? Are you having unexplained skin issues, in spite of an amazing skincare routine? Do you have to quickly run to the bathroom after meals, even if the food was healthy? Did you recently develop a random food intolerance or sensitivity even though you’ve always been able to eat whatever you want? Is bloating making you miserable no matter what you do? Are you suddenly unable to fit in your jeans or a favorite shirt, despite your efforts to stay in shape?

This was me… until I healed my gut.

What Is “The Gut?”

What am I even talking about when I say “Gut”?

In short, the gut is your digestive tract/gastrointestinal system, to clarify, the stomach, intestines, and colon. On one hand, this sounds simple, however, this system is very complex.

The Gut Microbiome & Gut Health

The microbiome makes up all the good and bad bacteria in the gut.

Within your gut, there is a microbial community of bad and good bacteria, known as the microbiome. In addition to having balanced bacteria, the goal is to have more good bacteria than bad. (There is also more information on this balance in my previous blog discussing probiotics & prebiotics, view here.)

The Enteric Nervous System: The Brain-Gut Relationship

gut health: the brain gut connection — The brain and digestive system, or ‘gut’, are interconnected affecting the body as a whole in our day-to-day life.

Although we have our central and peripheral nervous systems that control most bodily functions, there is an entire nervous system dedicated to your gut and the gut-brain relationship. This is known as the Enteric Nervous System, therefore, the entire digestive tract is connected to your brain and nervous system. Therefore, the digestive system connects to your entire body.

Essentially our bodies work as one entity. It may sound like common sense, but oftentimes when considering our health, we look at it through each organ system individually, rather than the body as a whole. _1.

Stress, The Fight or Flight Response , & Gut Health

Stress and being in a constant “fight or flight” mode, leads to an imbalanced microbiome.

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 a fight or flight response.

Even a small inconvenience such as being late to work could trigger the same response as if you were being attacked by a lion. The body will temporarily stop non-essential functions, such as digestion for instance, 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, for example, being late every day, this forces the body to be in constant fight or flight mode. When stress triggers your body to pause all activity, this will directly affect the microbiome in your gut.

Although stress can inhibit a healthy gut, there are many other factors that can do this as well. These include alcohol, lack of sleep, lack of exercise, an unbalanced diet, consuming foods that you are intolerant, sensitive, or allergic to, antibiotics, medications, and more.

Why Is Gut Health Important?

Gut health can impact our bodies and lives in numerous ways.

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 over time, any of those issues could be affected negatively and could cause detrimental, long-term effects including chronic illness.

When your gut is threatened this can lead to many responses in the body including the following:

1. Overall dysfunction of digestion and the GI tract.
2. Complications during the digestion and absorption of certain foods nutrients and medication.
3. Energy levels lower
Immune system dysfunction: a large part of our immune system is located around the lining of our gut, meaning that any gut issues directly affect the immune system.
4. Sleep problems: This can affect your ability to get enough deep sleep or enough sleep in general.
5. Appetite, metabolism, and weight fluctuations.
6. Mental and emotional health decline including mental illness, ability to focus, cognitive function, and more.

How to Know If Your Gut Health Needs Improvement

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.} Oftentimes, individuals only find out they have gut issues when other methods to treat their symptoms fail. 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, you should automatically assume it is a gut issue. Consequently, 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.

That is to say, 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.

In the meantime, you can learn more about gut health and supplements that may help in either of these two blogs: Probiotics and Prebiotics or Collagen. I also have a YouTube video discussing Collagen as well if you’d prefer to watch that here.

Didn’t find what you were looking for? Ask your specific nutrition question(s) here!

Disclaimer

***Always consult your physician or healthcare team before beginning any exercise or diet program. This information is not intended to diagnose or treat any medical condition or to replace your healthcare professional’s advice and instruction. Consult with your healthcare professional to see what is right for you.***

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

Why Is A Healthy Gut Important? | What You Need To Know

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