Gut Health 101: 5 Signs of Poor Gut Health
Gut health is a very popular buzz word but what does it actually mean?
The Gut isn’t just your stomach - it is also your esophagus, the tube that connects your mouth to your stomach, and it is also your intestines that connect your stomach to your rectum.
The reason why Gut Health is so important is because it has a massive impact on many other parts of your health such as brain health, emotions/mood and immunity, not to mention your digestive health too.
The Gut contains between 300-500 different series of bacteria also known as microbiome or also termed as “good” and “bad” bacteria. When you have an abundance of good bacteria, you can have a positive impact on your overall health and wellbeing. However, if you have an abundance of “bad” bacteria, it can have a negative impact to your overall health too.
So how do you know if your gut health is bad? Listen to this episode right here.
Here are 5 signs that your gut health could use some TLC:
Frequent stomach pain, upset, bloating, constipation or irregularities: If your digestive system is struggling to process the foods and drinks you’re consuming, this may be the cause of gastrointestinal upsets like pain, bloating, constipation, cramps etc. Different kinds of bacteria can also cause increased regularity i.e. have too many bowel movements in a day, or not having enough of certain kinds of other bacteria can be linked with reduced regularity.
Mood: The Gut produces approximately 80-90% of serotonin, one of the 3 feel good hormones. If your gut health is less than stellar, this will affect your mood, possibly causing bouts of depression or low feelings. Suboptimal gut health can even negatively impact your learning and memory.
Energy: Having low energy and/or feeling sluggish, can be directly impacted by gut health. If your gut is not absorbing all the nutrients from the foods and drinks you’re consuming, you will not be adequately converting food to energy, resulting in low energy.
Sudden weight increases/decreases: unexplainable changes in weight can be connected with poor gut health. It can potentially be a sign of an overgrowth of “bad” bacteria or can impact nutrient absorption also. A study looked at the gut microbiome in lean and overweight twins. The overweight twins had reduced bacterial diversity, meaning that they had fewer types of good gut bacteria.
Immunity: the Gut contains up to 70% of immunity cells, so if gut health is sub-par this will also impact your immune system. A particular bacteria called Enterococcus gallinarum can potentially travel outside of your gut and to your liver and other tissues, contributing to immune imbalance if it multiplies too much. In addition frequent use of antibiotics, can kill both the “good” and “bad” bacteria in the gut system.
So, what can you do to help improve your gut health? Find out some practical ways to start improving your gut health in my next blog post and podcast episode.
What questions do you have about gut health? Book a FREE 20 minute nutrition consultation to find out more about how you can improve your gut health.
Plus, learn more about my new membership, Nourish, right here.
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Hey! I’m Renata!
Your intuitive nutrition coach and fellow food lover. I’m here to help you find the foods that work best for your body, without feeling deprived or starving.
