Information for a happy Gut and a happy YOU
Your diet and your gut
Your diet and the way you eat influences not just your health but also your microbiome’s health.
If you eat a healthy diet rich in nutrients, your microbiome (these are the trillions of microorganisms that live in your intestinal tract) will thrive and you will feel great and full of energy. On the other hand, if your diet consists of lots of processed foods that are high in bad fats and sugar, and you eat while rushing out the door, the few nutrients found in your diet will most likely be poorly absorbed and you will feel tired and sick. Furthermore, your microbiome will flourish with bad bugs.
It’s not just the foods we eat that affect your microbiome but also what we drink. Sugary drinks and too much alcohol also affect our gut bacteria.
Medication and your gut
Even though antibiotics are the worst medication for your gut, other ones such as NSAIDS (Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs like aspirin or ibuprofen) and the oral contraceptive pill can also affect your gut bacteria. Antibiotics can be lifesaving; however they often are prescribed for common colds or viruses which is unnecessary and does not help. In the contrary, antibiotics will destroy some of your microbiome (thus lower your immune function) and can even eradicate some bacteria species.
If you take daily medication you will need to take extra care of your gut – replenish your good bacteria with the right diet (see my guide) and a good quality prebiotic supplement found at your health practitioner.
Stress and your gut
When we stress, we enter the ‘fight or flight response’ which results in our blood
rushing away from our digestive tract and going to our vital organs that we need to
be able to fight or flee. Long term stress means a lack of blood supply to your
digestive tract and insufficient gastric secretions which then leads to poor gut health.
Many studies show that stressful life events are associated with the start of several digestive conditions, including inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), and peptic ulcer disease.
Studies have also shown that stress has an impact to the stability of the microbiota and leads to bacterial translocation – often resulting in SIBO (Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth).
Even though we cannot always avoid stressful situations or long-term stress – changing your perception of stress makes you less susceptible to disease.
I teach my clients stress management tools that help them through tough times. Herbal medicine also provides us with amazing herbs that assist us with our stress response.
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