When we talk about building a happy and healthy gut, we want to look at the things that impact this system—both negatively and positively. The essence of good health is homeostasis—that place of balance and rest where the body can heal itself of anything! So how do we get to homeostasis? By adding the “good stuff” that the body needs and taking away the “bad stuff” that keeps the body in a state of constant stress.
This stress could come in the form of bacterial/viral/mold/fungal/parasitic infections, or it could come from emotional upset, toxic chemicals in our living or working spaces, a sedentary lifestyle, or a diet that is primarily composed of simple carbohydrates and processed foods that tear down the gut and disrupt the normal balance of good and bad microbes in the gut terrain. Stress also can come from not resting, or from living to excess with food, drink, or spending. It could come from unresolved trauma, or long-lasting bitterness over being treated badly. Stress affects digestion and what nutrients your intestines can absorb. Stress affects metabolism speed. When the body thinks it needs to “fight a tiger,” it shuts down what it considers to be “non-essential” functions like digestion, reproduction, and immunity. Unfortunately, ALL those functions are essential!
Our own mental state affects our gut health. That mental state can influence the gut is a familiar concept to anyone who has ever experienced a fluttering in their stomach just before giving a speech or some other important event. When the stress response is activated, contraction of the intestines speeds up and diverts blood flow away from the digestive system in preparation for fighting a tiger! The English language has certain terms that capture this concept:
→ “I have a gut feeling.”
→ “He showed gutsy behavior.”
→ “I was forced to make a gut-wrenching decision.”
The stress of exposure to toxins affects the microbiome, which in turn affects overall health. We live in a world where we are daily assaulted by toxic chemicals in our food, water, and air. These toxic chemicals put the body into a “fight or flight” mode also known as sympathetic dominance or a full-on stress response. In essence, it is a dysfunction of the nervous system that can show up in many ways that you may not have connected with stress.
Bacterial infections like H Pylori or SIBO can disrupt your gut. Even if you don’t show symptoms of these infections, they are constantly running in the background causing the body to stay in a state of stress.
Candida is a fungus that can easily get overgrown if you aren’t paying attention to it. Everyone has a little bit of Candida in the gut, but when it begins to feed on sugar and the remains of parasites, it grows big and strong and starts pushing its “legs” through the gut wall causing intestinal permeability or “leaky gut.” High stress levels, high alcohol intake, a diet high in sugar and processed food, a weakened immune system, taking oral contraceptives, diabetes, and high stress levels all cause Candida to grow.
Parasites are a big problem in the gut. Every human is exposed to parasites and most humans carry them. They wreak havoc in the gut, building nests, burrowing down and taking all the good nutrients from our food before we have a chance to process it.
Dietary stressors include inflammatory foods like gluten (the protein found in wheat), dairy products (made from cow’s milk), and sugar. One of the worst stressors is sugar—especially fructose, since a large segment of the population has fructose malabsorption. Sugars of any kind not only cause inflammation in the gut, but they feed Candida and cause tears in the gut lining. Gluten is a huge stressor on the gut. Recent research shows that patients suffering from gastrointestinal complaints often report that symptom onset or worsening occurs when they ingest wheat products.
Probiotics can be taken as a supplement in capsule form, or they can be ingested in the form of fermented foods like kombucha, kimchi, sauerkraut, kefir, and other fermented vegetables. These good microbes can “reseed” the gut and help create a healthy terrain.
Fiber is called “prebiotic” because it makes the gut ready for reseeding. Our collective fiber deficiency is partly because of modern food processing that strips foods of much of their fiber. Fiber affects nutrient digestion, movement of waste, blood pressure, gut microbiome, blood sugar, heart function, cholesterol levels, and metabolism speed.
What’s good for the gut has been good for centuries. It is our eating, drinking, and living habits that have changed drastically in the modern era. If we return to some of the older ways we can build and happy and healthy gut!
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