The gut is known in natural health circles as the second
brain, due to the fact that the health of your gut can be reflected
in so many other bodily functions.
If you don’t have a healthy gut it can affect your sleep patterns, ability to maintain a healthy weight, cognitive function, trigger autoimmune flares, cause digestive issues, cause or worsen skin disorders, muscle and joint pain, worsen anxiety and depression and so much more.
A healthy gut requires a diverse range of ‘good’ bacteria, also known as probiotics. Different strains of bacteria have different jobs within the gut, so it’s very important that you either replenish these with a range of fermented foods such as yoghurt, sauerkraut, kombucha, tempeh, kefir and pickled vegetables, or supplement with a good quality multi-strain probiotic to maintain the right balance.
A common problem now is ‘leaky gut, a term used when the cells on the intestinal barrier become loose, creating small gaps which enable toxins to leak out into your bloodstream. This can include small food particles and proteins, causing your immune system to launch an attack on these perceived foreign invaders, causing an inflammatory response to the food. This can cause a number of issues, particularly related to food sensitivities and intolerances, bloating, inflammation, digestive upset and skin issues. In order to repair a leaky gut, it’s important to maintain a good diet, high in nutrients and whole foods and add in extra supplementation such as probiotics, collagen, bone broth and slippery elm to help to repair the gaps in the wall of the intestine. They will help to seal those loose cell walls back together. During this time of repair, it’s a good idea to remove inflammatory foods, such as dairy, gluten, sugar and alcohol from your diet.
Gut dysbiosis is an imbalance of good and bad bacteria in the gut that can result in indigestion, bad breath and sugar cravings. Simply taking a multi strain probiotic and reducing your sugar intake can be enough to achieve balance again. Antibiotics are a very common cause of dysbiosis – they kill the good bacteria along with the bad, so following a course of antibiotics, it’s very important that you take probiotics to replenish that good bacteria. I recommend taking a double dose for at least a week following the antibiotics, then staying at a maintenance dose.
SIBO (small intestine bacterial overgrowth) is another common gut issue, which often results in inflammation and bloating in your lower abdominal area. It’s so important to have a diverse microbiome in order to maintain a healthy gut. A great place to start with this is apple cider vinegar to promote good digestion and enable your gut to break down foods effectively.
With our modern diet and the lack of fermented foods consumed it’s a good idea to add a probiotic to your daily supplement routine, and even better still if you also include apple cider vinegar, collagen and bone broth in order to maintain a healthy gut and gut lining. If you feel that you may have any of these gut issues, seek guidance from a naturopath to get a personalised plan.