Improving Gut Health

“All disease begins in the gut.”  -Hippocrates

After reading two books, multiple research articles, listing to several podcasts, and watching a few videos, I have learned just enough about the gut and the microbiome’s influence on your immune system, nervous system and hormonal system (covering at least part of pretty much every process in the body) to recognize that without good gut health, it’s is impossible to have good health, period.

Your gastrointestinal system is host to hundreds of trillions of different bacteria, plus viruses, molds, and fungi.  It is an interesting idea to think that on a genetic level, you are dwarfed by the 5 lbs of microbial residents residing inside you. Yes, you and your microbes are in this together.  But not to fear!  You provide a home for these bugs and they provide  services in return.  The vast majority of the microbes in your body are not harmful but in fact helping you break down food, extracting energy, sending it to the proper places, regulating hunger, acting as the immune surveillance system detecting friends or foes, even affecting things like your hormone and insulin levels!  

Symptoms related to poor gut health can the obvious ones like bloating and gas, stomach pain, and reflux issues.  There are less obvious  as abdominal pain, bloating after meals, reflux, or flatulence, but also less obvious like headaches, fatigue, joint pain, and immune system weakness.  The more severe the status of your gut health the more you start running into issues like Crohn’s, ulcerative colitis, hashimoto’s thyroiditis, multiple sclerosis, arthritis, and fibromyalgia.

But there’s good news!  With a little bit of work, consistency, and time, it is entirely possible to repair your gut and restore the health of your GI system.  Why should you care?  Here’s a list of possible side effects that come with restoring your GI system: 

• Enhanced mood and memory

• Stronger Immune system

• Better digestion

• Weight loss 

• Reduced symptoms or remission of auto-immune disorders

• Reduced symptoms of depression

• Reduced symptoms of anxiety

• Improved cardiovascular health

• Improved bone density

So what can you do about it?

Remove / Repair / Restore

Step 1: Work to first remove problem foods and toxins from your system that could be causing issues.

Step 2: Start to repair and heal the gut by reintroducing a clean diet and key nutrients like fiber.

Step 3: Supplementing with the right probiotics to restore the ideal balance of gut bacteria.