What is Gut Health?
Gut Health refers to how well your digestive system is working. The digestive system is called the gastrointestinal tract, and it is where your body digests food, absorbs nutrients, and gets rid of waste.
The gut contains lots of tiny microbes, which are unharmful bacteria that helps to break down the food that you eat and support your immune system. Good gut health requires the microbiome to be balanced.
There are goods you can eat to help balance your gut microbes, which will improve gut health.
Why is Gut Health Important?
Around 70 to 80 percent of our immune cells are found in the gut. It is vital for producing vitamins and hormones, such as serotonin. Therefore, if the bacteria in your gut isn’t balanced it could cause your immune response, mental health and physical health to be affected.
Signs of an Unhealthy Gut:
- upset stomach
- fatigue
- autoimmune conditions
- food intolerances
- unintentional weight changes
What Affects Gut Health?
The friendly bacteria in the gut can be impacted by lots of different things, including:
- Health Conditions
Some health conditions, such as Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), Crohn’s disease, and Ulcerative Colitis can impact your gut health and cause a wide range of symptoms.
- Food poisoning
If you have food poisoning or an upset stomach, it can affect your gut microbiome. Normally, food poisoning should get better within a few days to a week, but you may experience stomach cramps and other symptoms, as a result of the acid build up.
- Some antibiotics
Antibiotics are used to treat bacterial infections, and kill bacteria, so that they don’t spread. However, this can reduce the variety of bacteria in your gut.
- Ageing
As we age, the gut microbiome tends to change, which can impact the amount of time it takes for food to leave the digestive system.
- Lack of sleep
Lack of sleep can not only impact stress levels, but also raise your cortisol levels. When you are tired, you are more likely to eat processed foods, which can impact your gut health.
- Highly processed diet
Highly processed foods are usually higher in carbohydrates, sugars, and fats. Eating too much of these foods can affect your health.
- Stress levels
Stress levels, and mental health, can cause stomach problems, which may affect the bacteria in your gut. Stress can elevate the stress hormones, cause inflammation, and affect your mood.
Gut Health and Brain Health: What’s the Link?
There is a link between the gut and the brain, called the mind-gut connection. When you are stressed, you may notice symptoms in your gut, such as pain and diarrhoea. Digesting conditions such as IBS has also been linked to anxiety and depression. Stress can also increase inflammation, which affects the microbes in the gut.
Studies have found links between gut health and the immune system, mental health, autoimmune diseases, endocrine disorders, gastrointestinal disorders and more.
How to Improve Your Gut Health
If you are wanting to improve your gut health, you can do this by making some changes to your lifestyle and diet. For example:
- Lower stress levels
- Eat slower
- Stay hydrated
- Take probiotics
- Improve your diet
- Improve your sleep
There are also foods that are great for improving your gut health. These include probiotic foods, such as:
- Kombucha
- Miso
- Yoghurt
- Tempeh
- Kefir
Prebiotics, such as onions, leeks, beans, broccoli, berries, and avocados are great for improving your gut.
Foods that you should avoid:
If you are suffering with your gut health you may want to avoid red meat, bread, cakes, biscuits, fried food, alcohol and caffeine. These foods are known for affecting the bacteria in your gut.