How To Boost Your Gut Health
“All disease begins in the gut.” -Hippocrates
Hippocrates was one smart man. He lived 2,400 years ago and without modern tools and advances in science he concluded: When your Gut is unhealthy so are you. That’s why it’s so important to take care of your Gut health.
Why Is Gut Health So Important?
Your body is full of trillions of bacteria, viruses, and fungi which collectively, are known as the microbiome. When your gut is not being taken care of properly, the microbiome can play a role in symptoms like bloating, cramps, and abdominal pain (IBS sufferers, I bet you can identify with that one.) Or if you’re experiencing inexplicable weight gain, that could also be a symptom of poor gut health. Some others include acid reflux, chronic fatigue, constantly getting sick (which suggests a poor immune system)....the list goes on. I hear about these symptoms from my patients all the time, but they’re fixable!
Easy Ways To Boost Your Gut Health
The best way to get started on boosting your gut health (and keep in mind there’s no such thing as a gut that’s too healthy), is by following some of these simple tips.
Add These Foods Into Your Diet
Incorporating things like bone broth, organic and grass-fed animal proteins, and high-fiber foods like nuts into your diet can be a huge help. Fermented foods like sauerkraut, kimchi, and kombucha can also do the trick. They’re great because they contain good bacteria to support your microbiome.
Supplement with Prebiotics and Probiotics
Probiotics are bacteria (yes, there’s such a thing as good bacteria) that live in your body naturally and help your intestines break food down. The probiotics that you buy are meant to supplement what your body makes to encourage healthy digestion. Then there are prebiotics, which are made up of carbs your body can’t digest. They exist as a food for the probiotic bacteria you’re putting in your body. So while you don’t necessarily need to be taking a prebiotic for your probiotic to work, taking them can make your probiotic more effective. (I’m a big fan of the Standard Process brand.)
Avoid Antibiotics
I know. Steering clear of antibiotics can be a really tough concept to wrap our heads around, especially when they’ve constantly been pushed by traditional medical professionals our entire life. So here’s the rationale behind that - when you’re sick, antibiotics are given to kill the bad bacteria in your body. The trouble is, the medicine is also killing the good bacteria, which ultimately lowers your immune system and is counterproductive for gut health. BUT, if you have a healthy gut to begin with, the chances that you’ll even see a doctor who would prescribe them is far less likely. (By the way ladies, it’s no coincidence that a course of antibiotics leaves a yeast infection behind.)
Decrease Your Stress Levels
Easier said than done, right? Believe it or not, when you experience elevated stress levels, your brain goes into flight-or-fight mode, which can impact blood flow to your gut. Bacteria help signal the proper response to the brain to cope with stress so that they don’t affect the rest of your body, but if it happens enough when your gut health is already poor to begin with, you begin to experience symptoms like sickness or exhaustion. They go hand-in-hand.
Gut health is a really popular topic that I cover in my monthly workshops, so I encourage you to join me to learn more. Or, we can chat more about it at a one-on-one Nutrition Response Testing consultation. Both are complimentary.
