Gut Health 101
Do you feel bloated, gassy, or irregular?
Do you have brain fog, anxiety or feel down?
Do you have joint pain?
Do you have allergies or skin issues?
What if I told you these might all be coming from one place!
In the last blog I talked about the number one question you need to ask yourself about your health.
For many of you, to get back on the road to living your best life, you need to address your gut health!
Read on for an overview of the 5 key strategies you need for gut health.
Remove
After a trip to Mexico, I suffered the consequences of Montezuma's revenge.
(Google this if you don't know what I mean!)
For weeks afterwards I was clueless as to why my pumpkin spice latte was suddenly my worst enemy. Coffee dates with colleagues were cut short. Work days were missed. A mystery ingredient was making me sick!
It wasn't until I removed all lactose from my diet that the problem was solved!
When your gut is attacked by an invader - either a parasite, bacteria or food intolerance - the gut lining weakens.
The only way to start to heal and strengthen is to remove the offender!
This could be through an elimination diet for food sensitivities or through medications or herbs for bugs.
Replace
Our gut has a lot of mechanisms for natural protection.
Stomach acid, bile, digestive enzymes, and good bacteria.
If our guts have been weakened by stress, aging, poor diet, or medications - to name a few - then we need to give our gut a hand with replacements in the form of supplements.
Reinoculate
The balance of gut bacteria is important.
When the balance is off due to poor diet, artificial sweeteners, medications or other factors we can get inflammation, changes in mood, and changes in bowel habits.
What reinoculate means in this case is to reintroduce and increase good bacteria.
There are two ways to do this: Probiotics and Prebiotics
Probiotics contain good bacteria such as bifidobacteria and lactobacillus and including probiotic supplements or probiotic foods such as fermented food and yogourt.
Prebiotics are foods that help good bacteria thrive like artichokes, garlic,leeks, onions, chiocory and certain grains.
Repair
You can only repair the gut once you are certain you have eliminated the offending foods or bugs. Trying to repair the gut while it is being attacked will be futile.
To repair the gut, it will need extra support with key nutrients such as zinc, antioxidant vitamins, fish oil and key amino acids.
Rebalance
When you're feeling like a million bucks it is easy to slip back in to old habits that caused your gut to become weakened in the first place.
Sleep, exercise and stress all affect our guts.
Optimizing these are key to keeping your gut healthy and yourself happy!
Having issues you think might be related to your gut health?
Keep an eye out as I continue the gut health series and dive into each of these steps with specific strategies.
