A happy gut is a happy you. Your gut health influences your overall well being from digestion to brains to your immune system. However, an unhealthy gut is associated with active and passive signals given from our body, like Bloating, skin issues, gas, poor concentration, tiredness, and constipation or irregular bowel movements.
Just like that, our gut spaces a home to millions of bacteria along with yeast and viruses that co-lives together. Collective genes of them together are the gut microbiomes. Perhaps the fact of curiosity is that each individual has one-of-a-kind gut microbiomes, as unique as a fingerprint. A balanced and healthy living helps our overall health in harmony and an imbalance leads to an unhealthy gut which is listed below.
SYMPTOMS OF UNHEALTHY GUT
1. Abdominal discomfort which is associated with less gas formation and bloating. Gas formation is normal in the process of digestion and fermentation, where in some strains of gut bacteria naturally produces more gas than others and more of these produced gasses could result in greater fermentation and trapping gas inside the gut leading to bloating.
2. Irregular Bowel Movements which are caused by imbalance in gut microbes. It can be irregularity in bowel movements occurring less or more times.
3. Mood Swings get to be one major after-effect by an unhealthy gut especially the way towards responding to stress. Studies say, there are certain hormones named gut peptides that actively control the direct signaling between one’s gut and brain and vice versa, the communication between neural channels, gut, and brain. Studies say that the more the pathways between brain-gut are interrupted the more chances that it could contribute to anxiety and mood swings.
4. Concentration is yet one another factor affected by an unhealthy gut. Our gut produces active neurotransmitters which directly connect to our thoughts, mind and other cognitive abilities comprising concentration and focus and in fact memory and learning.
5. Skin health has a core connection which transparently controls the underlying gut health needs as a result of the direct communication through gut-skin axis. An imbalance in the former affects the latter.
6. Improper Sleep and tiredness are seen in people which researches mention being caused by the abnormal levels of certain types of gut bacteria. An unhealthy gut can consequently affect the natural circadian rhythm leading to sleep disruption and tiredness throughout the day.
7. The 70% of the immune system resides in the gut area, wherein our gut microbiome has the ability to directly affect one’s immune health. Certain bacteria tend to multiply much causing it to travel from gut to liver and to other tissues causing imbalance in the immune system.
WHAT CAUSES GUT IMBALANCE?
Gut health is very much dependent on what it’s fed with. Poor diet steadily imbalances the ratio of good and bad bacteria causing further problems. Always keep a note that, when our diet comprises processed foods and sugar and other junks, the bad bacteria takes dominance over the good bacteria that thrive on foods comprising fiber, plant foods, even from a short period of time. However, diet isn’t the only factor, there are other reasons contributing to the gut issues including stress, frequent antibiotics or certain intake of medications, travel, food sensitivity, lack of sleep and alcohol intake. Visiting your nearest Lifestyle and Health Coach can guide you to have a proper diet-plan that matches your health concerns and goals will help a long way.
HOW TO IMPROVE GUT HEALTH?
As a mark of happiness, there are a lot of methods to stabilize and improve your gut health and bring it to balance. These are the various ways you can achieve your goal of gut health.
- Clean eating and diet keeping in mind that fiber and complex carbohydrates will feed the good bacteria while sugar and processed foods encourages the gut health imbalance. Trying to include high-fiber fruits and vegetables, healthy fats and lean proteins with good intake of prebiotics like flax seeds, asparagus,banana,berries etc which helps the good bacteria to multiply, thrive and predominate.
- Include Probiotics in the diet as supplements or fermented foods daily as possible as this helps to bring back the microbiome back in action maintaining bowel movements and manages gastrointestinal issues. Also include fermented foods like Kefir,Kimchi,Yogurt,kombucha in your diet as they contain good bacteria in good levels. Always note to consult and take doctors advice before taking supplements or medications.
- Identify the foods that trigger and are causing issues, the best way is to Test for the Food intolerance . Once identified, proper elimination and management of diet accordingly will help a long way.
- Exercise is one vital solution and moreover an important step in improving your gut health and overall wellbeing. Implementing workouts as a part of your regular everyday routine can effectively diversify the microbiomes. Nowadays, workouts are made easier with online and zoom consultations. Opt for one such routine and stick to it.
- Manage stress-levels. Too much stress can actually disrupt the system causing immune reactions which contributes to gut imbalances. Mediation, good sleep, supplements using herbs, journalizing, exercising and doing all that which brings mental happiness are things that will feed your overall mental health and also gut health.
- Intermittent Fasting helps in regulating and getting back on track. Being on fast for 14-16 hours can support a normal inflammatory response, shed the water weight and reduce bloating, moreover it keeps your gut healthy and active.
THE TAKE AWAYS
Gut health is a sound factor connecting our overall well being. An imbalance in the gut shoots us with signs which are often unnoticed. The good part is that any imbalances can be reversed when taken good care. Always consult a doctor before taking any medications or supplements.
A test for food intolerance is a great idea to check on the foods that trigger the condition.