The Top 3 Things Secretly Destroying Your Gut Health
Are you struggling with an unhappy tummy? Does someone you know have a problem with bloating after eating, stomach pains or constipation on a regular basis?
You’re not alone. It’s estimated 50% of Australians are suffering from poor gut health and it’ symptoms.
And it’s not just your gut that is affected. Poor gut health is now known to be linked to poor immunity, anxiety, depression, eczema, asthma, sleep disturbances, joint problems, thyroid issues, and other auto-immune conditions.
Poor Gut Health = Poor Nutrient Uptake
Once your gut stops working properly - it’s a sure bet your digestion isn’t working well either - which means you will be missing out on properly assimilating nutrients from your food and this starts to run your whole body down.
This is not just an issue for adults. I see small children in my clinic with lots of health problems, stomach pains, and recurrent infections from poor gut health and poor digestion.
These are the top 3 culprits for poor gut health:
Sugar! Sugar Feeds Bad Bacteria
A high sugar diet might seem obvious but it really does affect the balance of good and bad bacteria in the gut. Sugar favours the growth of pathogenic (disease-causing) bacteria while reducing the population of beneficial bacteria.
An overgrowth of bad bacteria is called SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth).
I find a lot of people don’t realise their diet is high in sugar. Most people think of lollies and soft drink when they think of a high sugar diet - but did you know a lot of sugar is also hidden in grains like bread, cereals, rice, crackers, muffins and biscuits?
I don’t mean added sugar. The grains themselves like wheat, rice, spelt, corn etc are all carbohydrates that break down in the gut as sugar.
Which means all grain is actually sugar in disguise.
Reducing the toast, sandwiches and pasta you eat on a daily basis and including more meat and vegetables can massively reduce your sugar load in your body and really turn around poor gut health.
Stress. Stress Turns off Digestion
Stress affects the gut almost immediately. Have you ever had a stressful exam to complete and you had to run to the toilet right before? That’s your gut reacting to the stressful thoughts in your mind. Amazing, huh? Your thoughts can have an immediate effect on your physical body.
In the case of your gut, the stress travels through the brain, and signals to the nerves running down your spinal column that a stressful event is occurring and preps the body for fight or flight mode. This means your body gets ready to fight the offender or run!
The body reduces blood supply to digestion and diverts it to the muscles in your arms and legs. It’s prioritising the danger - and putting digestion on the bottom of the priority list.
Reducing the blood supply to your gut, turns off effective digestion and stops the nutrients in your blood from keeping your gut walls healthy and in top shape.
Many people have a spot just above the belly button which I call the “stress button”. If you feel their tummies there’s literally a knot of nerves and tight muscle in a small knot from extended periods of anxiety.
Taking steps to radically reduce stress in your daily life improves your digestion and encourages good gut health.
Food intolerance. Foods that inflame your insides
I’ve saved the big one to last. Food intolerance is a hugely undiagnosed problem in Australia. So many of my patients end up fixing their health by removing an offending food that is literally irritating and inflaming their insides.
And just because you have a test saying you’re not “allergic” to a food does not mean you aren’t intolerant to it.
Just like we have skin on the outside of our bodies, we also have skin on the inside of our bodies - lining the long digestive tube which is our intestines. And just like the skin on the outside of our bodies, this “inside skin” is also prone to irritation, wounds and allergic reactions. In fact, it’s more prone to issues because the skin there is so thin. It’s just one cell deep like very thin, stretchy paper.
When we continually eat a diet filled with irritating chemicals, sugar and carbs, this skin becomes weak and can actually get small wounds in it. This is what leaky gut is.
We are all different and just because your neighbour can seemingly live on bread won’t mean it will work for you (unfortunately!).
So many people are having problems with gluten, number one, and dairy, second. The excessive processing of these foods and the chemicals used in their production might be a big reason so many people are currently reacting to it.
The good news is that removing these foods and finding alternatives can turn your health around. Bloating gone, stomach pains gone, hyperactivity gone, dark under-eye circles gone, immunity and sleep restored!
Wishing you good health,
Jess x
P.S. Do you have questions about your own gut health? You can book an appointment either in-person or on-line here.