Gut Health

Have you ever wondered that there might be something wrong with your inner tube that could be making you sick and overweight. All we do is blame it on the food! You may not even realize you have a problem within yourself. If you have health concerns of any kind, or you are overweight, your inner tube (Digestive System) could be the root cause. 

All you need to know is, you have many bacteria in your body. In fact, you have more of them than you have cells. Most are good for you. The ones found in your gut not only help you digest foods, they work all over your body and can be good for your physical and mental health. 

The term ‘GUT HEALTH’- explanation!

Gut health refers to the balance of microorganisms that live in the digestive tract. These bacteria, yeasts, and viruses — of which there are around 100 trillion — are also called the "gut microbiome" or "gut flora." Many microbes are beneficial for human health, and some are even essential. Others can be harmful, especially when they multiply.

Looking after the health of the gut and maintaining the right balance of these microorganisms is vital for physical and mental health, immunity, and more. We suggest you to do this the first thing after completely reading this article!

In the gut microbiome, the “good” bacteria do more than just help with digestion. They help keep your “bad” bacteria in check. They multiply so often that the unhealthy kind don't have space to grow. When you have a healthy balance of bacteria in your gut, it’s called equilibrium.

How Gut affects your Health?

The health of your gut determines what nutrients are absorbed and what toxins, allergens and microbes are kept out. It is directly linked to the health of your whole body. Intestinal health could be defined as the optimal digestion, absorption, and assimilation of food. 

1. There are 500 species and three pounds of bacteria in your gut which form a huge chemical factory that helps digest food, regulate hormones, excrete toxins, and produce vitamins and other healing compounds that keep your gut and your body healthy. This ecosystem of friendly bacteria must be in balance for you to be healthy. Too many of the wrong bacteria or not enough of the good ones can seriously damage your health.
2. Your entire immune system and the rest of your body is protected from the toxic environment in your gut by a lining that is only one cell-thick layer. If that barrier is damaged, you can become allergic to foods you may normally be able to digest perfectly well. Filtering out the good molecules from the bad molecules and protecting your immune system is yet another important factor in gut health.
3.  Your gut must break down all the food you eat into its individual components, separate out the vitamins and minerals, and shuttle everything across the one cell-thick layer mentioned above so it can get into your bloodstream and nourish your body and brain.

Definition of an Unhealthy Gut

Many facets of modern life such as high stress levels, too little sleep, eating processed and high-sugar foods, and taking antibiotics can all damage our gut microbiome. This in turn may affect other aspects of our health, such as the brain, heart, immune system, skin, weight, hormone levels, ability to absorb nutrients, and even the development of cancer.

There are a number of ways an unhealthy gut might manifest itself. Here are seven of the most common signs:

1. Unhealthy stomach
2. High-sugar diet
3. Unintentional weight changes
4. Sleep disturbances
5. Skin irritation
6. Autoimmune conditions
7. Food intolerances

Ultimate Steps to improve your Gut Health

Fixing your digestion may take some time, but it can be done. And it is absolutely essential if you want to achieve vibrant health.  So work on your inner tube of life using the steps below:

1. Eat whole, unprocessed foods. Make sure to include plenty of fiber from foods like vegetables, beans, nuts, seeds and whole grains.
2. Eliminate food allergies. If you think you have food sensitivities, try an elimination diet. Cut out gluten, dairy, yeast, corn, soy, and eggs for a week or two and see how your gut feels and what happens to your other symptoms.
3. Treat any infections or overgrowth of bugs. Parasites, small bowel bacteria, and yeasts can all inhibit proper gut function. You must treat these infections if you want to heal.
4. Replenish your digestive enzymes. When you don’t have enough digestive enzymes in your gut, you can’t properly convert the foods you eat into the raw materials necessary to run your body and brain. Take broad-spectrum digestive enzymes with your food to solve the problem.
5. Rebuild your rain forest of friendly bacteria. Take probiotic supplements. They will help you rebuild the healthy bacteria so essential to good gut health.
6. Get good fat. Take extra omega-3 supplements, which help cool inflammation in the gut.
7. Heal your gut lining. Use gut-healing nutrients such as glutamine and zinc to repair the lining in your gut so it can resume its normal function.

Conclusion

Maintaining a healthy gut contributes to better overall health and immune function. By making appropriate lifestyle and dietary changes, people can alter the diversity and number of microbes in their gut for the better. It isn’t really difficult to maintain a healthy gut as you think. Just a few steps and proper care and you are good to go!