Your gut is your gastrointestinal system. This includes the stomach, colon, and intestines. Your gut digests and absorbs nutrients from food and excretes waste. Your gut curtains over 200 species of bacteria, fungi, and viruses living in your large intestines. Microorganisms like bacteria that live in your gut are known as gut microbiome.
Your gut bacteria can help you break down food and provide nutrients for your body to absorb. Some bacteria in your gut can cause you to fall ill, especially when imbalanced. For a healthy body, you need certain microorganisms.
Your gut health immensely affects your physical and mental health. Many factors can influence gut health, including foods we eat, which impact our gut bacteria. What you eat impacts your gut microbiome in the short and long term. Even though some microorganisms are harmful to your health, most are good for you and even necessary for your health.
How does gut health impact your health?
The primary function of your gut is to break food down into nutrients so that your body can utilize them to promote good health. An increasing body of research shows how gut health can impact your general health and most organs in your body. There have been links between gut health and:
- Mental health
- Immune system
- Endocrine disorders
- Autoimmune diseases
- Gastrointestinal disorders
- Cancer
- Cardiovascular diseases
Even though more research is ongoing on the importance of gut health, most of the available ones show that gut health impacts many areas of your health and well-being. Having a higher diversity of gut microbiome indicates better gut health.
What are the signs of an unhealthy gut?
Some signs indicate that you need to take better care of your gut health. These include:
Unintentional weight changes
Weight gain or weight loss without a change in your habits or diet points to an unhealthy gut. An unhealthy gut impairs your body’s ability to absorb nutrients, store fat, and regulate blood sugar.
When you have an unhealthy gut, weight gain is often caused by increased inflammation or insulin resistance. However, if you’re experiencing weight loss, that may be due to small intestinal bacterial overgrowth.
Insufficient sleep
According to research, experiencing fragmented sleep and short sleep durations that often cause fatigue is often linked to a lack of balance in the gut bacteria. While it may be unclear how these two are often related, they may be connected to metabolic function, inflammation, and mental health. When all these aspects of your life are affected, you often suffer from insufficient sleep.
Stomach upset
When you often suffer from stomach upset, it’s due to an unhealthy gut. Usually, an upset stomach causes symptoms like diarrhoea, constipation, bloating, stomach pain, heartburn, and gas.
An upset stomach is often due to food that isn’t broken down sufficiently. This food ends up in the colon, and thats when you suffer from these symptoms because the bacteria in the colon ferment it, releasing gas and drawing water in, causing bloating, constipation, and stomach pain. When you have a healthy gut, it can break food sufficiently and eliminate waste, leading to fewer symptoms.
A diet high in sugar
When your diet mainly comprises processed foods and sugars, it often causes a decreased amount of “good bacteria” your body needs for its health. These types of foods often cause inflammation throughout the body. Chronic inflammation often is the root of most diseases, including cancer and other chronic illnesses.
Autoimmune conditions
Many studies create a link between gut health and the immune system. An unhealthy gut may increase systemic inflammation, which can alter the proper functioning of your body’s immune system. Often, it causes autoimmune disease, which causes the body to attack itself rather than attack harmful invaders like it is supposed to.
Food allergy and food sensitivity
Food intolerance is caused by difficulty digesting specific foods. It can be due to insufficient enzymes to break down proteins in some foods or your gut’s sensitivity to them. Most food sensitivities are caused by an unhealthy gut, which can stop the production of enzymes needed to digest certain foods.
When you have a food intolerance, you often suffer from digestive symptoms like stomach pain, diarrhoea, constipation, diarrhoea, nausea, and gas, among other symptoms. You can take a Sensitivity Test to know which foods you’re intolerant to. This will help you eliminate those problematic foods from your diet and switch them for foods that support your gut health.
Allergies can also cause digestive symptoms similar to those of food sensitivities. Avoiding foods you’re allergic to can prevent you from suffering these symptoms. Celiac disease can also cause immense damage to your intestinal walls and cause digestive symptoms. Beware of these when you think you may have a gut health problem.
What are the seven ways to improve your gut health?
You can easily improve your gut health, lifestyle, and diet changes. Some of these changes include:
Diet
The fuel to your gut bacteria is what you eat. When you eat the right foods, you help them thrive, but indulging in unhealthy foods reduces the number of “good bacteria” in your gut, causing an unhealthy gut. The best way to feed your gut microbiome is by consuming fresh whole foods and ensuring your diet is filled with plant sources like vegetables, legumes, beans, nuts, and fruits.
A fibre-rich diet is essential for your gut health because it helps digestion and absorption of nutrients. It also helps determine how fast or slow foods pass through the gastrointestinal tract and the quality of your stool.
When your gut breaks down fibre in the intestinal tract, it feeds good gut bacteria. Fibre is only found in plant foods. So, you must consume plant foods in every diet to support your gut health. You can also find prebiotic fibre in some high-fibre foods, suitable for developing a gut microbiome that promotes good gut health.
Take prebiotics and probiotics.
Prebiotics provide fuel for the growth of beneficial gut bacteria. Probiotics, on the other hand, are good live bacteria. Probiotics are not advisable for those with persistent illnesses or weakened immune systems. If you’re taking probiotic and prebiotic supplements, you must consult your doctor to get the right ones since not all supplements are high quality.
Mindful eating
Mindful eating means you chew your food thoroughly and slowly while enjoying it. Practising mindfulness when it comes to your eating habits can help you make better food decisions and choose only foods that make you feel good. Being mindful can reduce your chances of suffering digestive discomfort, have a healthy gut, and prevent many chronic diseases.
Hydration is key
When you drink clean water, it’s not only good for your health but also increases the diversity of bacteria in your gut. According to research, people who drink sufficient water lack a specific kind of bacteria that can result in gastrointestinal infections. Proper hydration can also help with preventing constipation and promote a healthy gut.
Get sufficient sleep
The lack of sufficient and quality sleep can cause some severe impacts on your gut health, which will also affect your sleep further. You must prioritise 7-8 hours of sleep every single night. If you have significant trouble sleeping, your doctor can help you figure out how to deal with that. However, practising good sleep hygiene can help you improve your sleep quality.
Exercise
Regular cardiovascular exercises, like cycling and walking, can help stimulate muscles in your gut to move your digestive content through your gut. Exercising can positively impact your gut health and gut microbiome.
Mental health and well-being
Your mental health and well-being can affect your gut health. The foods you eat, your mental health and your gut are linked. You can reduce stress, too, by practising mindfulness, meditation, breathwork, and other techniques that can help you reduce stress.
Final thoughts
Your gut health affects about every other organ in your body. Ensuring you have good gut health can help you easily manage your general health and well-being. There are many ways to ensure your gut is healthy, and one of the main ways is by taking a Sensitivity Test. This test helps you know which foods are causing you digestive symptoms so that you can manage your diet and feel better.
