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Gut health describes the function and balance of bacteria of the many parts of the gastrointestinal tract – one of the most important systems that keep us alive. It’s responsible for getting food from your mouth to your stomach, then sorting through the good and bad stuff and either creating nutrients or waste, depending on what you’ve consumed.
But therein likes the key to your health. What you put in, is what you get out. View our resources and advice to help make sure your gut health is optimal. [Read more]
Symptoms of Crohn’s disease aren’t very predictable but patients can still live a full and productive life. Here’s all the information you need to know about the disease.
Crohn’s disease affects the digestive tract but there are ways you can manage the symptoms and improve your quality of life. Here is everything you need to know.
There is no single way to determine whether or not you have a healthy gut — it is a combination of factors. Read on to find out how your gut affects your whole body.
One reason why leaky gut syndrome has been hard to diagnose is that it shares symptoms with other common health problems, making it difficult for doctors to identify.
A lesser-known fact about the human body is that it carries trillions of different types of bacteria.
The gastrointestinal tract is one of the most important systems that keep us alive. It’s responsible for getting food from your mouth to your stomach, then sorting through the good and bad stuff and either creating nutrients or waste, depending on what you’ve consumed.
But therein likes the key to your health. What you put in, is what you get out.
In other words, eat well for optimal wellness. Because most of the bacteria sit in the intestines and is known as ‘gut microbial, and some help to create a healthy system. But others can be the cause of diseases.
Lately, there have been some interesting findings coming out of research being done into exactly how gut health affects the rest of the human body. This type of research is relatively new but is unfolding some strong links from the gut to other areas of the body. This is not just a link to the obvious one, digestion, but also to our immune systems, causes of cancers, and mental health such as emotional stress.
Noting the importance of gut health is as simple as recognising that in healthy individuals, there is diversity in the bacteria that exists in the gut. In unhealthy people, or those that have a consistently unhealthy diet, there is a high level of potentially harmful bacteria, and not much diversity with other organisms.
And it’s this lack of diverse microbes that can be linked to chronic illnesses such as Type 2 diabetes, cancers, heart disease and a lower immune function.
Remarkably, it’s also been linked to many mental health issues as well, like anxiety, depression, autism, and neurological conditions like schizophrenia and dementia.
While researchers are still only just making connections due to this area of medical science being so new, they have made links to influencing factors that mean you can’t control your gut health entirely. But eating a predominantly healthy diet is the easiest way to support or counter the factors that you can’t control.
This sounds obvious, but it bears repeating. Fibre and nutrients in fruits and vegetables are known to be what you need for all-round health, starting with your gut. Especially blueberries, broccoli, raspberries, artichokes and green beans. But include as many as you can.
There are so many types of beans and legumes. All are a great source of nutrients and fibre for good gut health.
It should go without saying that sugar is bad for you, but artificial sweeteners are not a great replacement as early research has shown it responds negatively with insulin while increasing blood sugar.
Fermented foods like yoghurt, sauerkraut and kimchi have a bacteria called lactobacilli, which is good for countering inflammation. Yoghurt is also good for balancing bacteria in the gut and is often suggested when taking anti-biotics to help avoid some digestive side effects. Be careful of the high sugar content of sweetened yoghurts, though. Plain yoghurts sweetened with honey and fruit is best.
Generally, if you’re leading a healthy lifestyle, you’ll be doing what is in your power to help maintain a healthy system. Apart from eating well, you should also;
The stomach can be quite good at telling us when something is not right. You might experience this every now and again with pain, bloating, cramping, gas, diarrhoea etc. These may be short-term alerts to something not right. Often, these will only take a day or two to rectify themselves. But if these symptoms continue for a prolonged period, then it’s time to seek some medical advice from a gastroenterologist.
Tests can be done to determine the cause of ongoing issues. Remember that physical symptoms in the stomach area are indicators of trouble, you may also want to watch your diet and lifestyle if you are suffering from a number of issues including mental health strains, as this can all be linked to our gut health.
While the research into how gut health affects our entire body is still in its infancy, it’s not news that eating the right foods and looking after yourself is good for having the best chance at living a long, healthy life.
Eating highly processed food, taking unnecessary medications where there may be natural remedies, excessive drinking and smoking is really bad for you. We know this. What we’re only just learning is how these things all affect our gut, and how important it is that we respect the gut as much as we respect our brains or our hearts, if we want to live optimally healthy lives.