Did you know that an imbalanced digestive system is at least a huge contributor, too many diseases and symptoms. 

This means that to restore your health you need to restore your gut health

Let’s take a look at the important roles our digestive system plays:

1. The gut absorbs the nutrients from your food into the blood stream this is necessary for energy, growth and cell repair.

Every nutrient is crucial to your overall wellbeing. Just one nutrient deficiency can make it impossible to maintain stability.

Also a nutrient-rich diet will do no good if digestion and absorption are low.

2. Your gut contains 70%-80% of your immune system!

It’s important to have the majority of the immune system in the digestive system, it is your bodies first encounter with the outside world. When you eat inflammatory foods or have chronic stress, it triggers an immune response causing inflammation in the intestines. 

If left unmanaged this digestive inflammation increases intestinal permeability leading to leaky gut and autoimmune disease.

Having the right balance of microbes as part of your microbiome keeps your immune system strong and healthy. This microbiome also helps prevent diseases elsewhere in the body! Studies now show that up to 90% of all diseases can be traced back to your gut microbiome.

3. Your gut houses the microbiome

Your microbiome is like Earth’s ecosystems, the bacteria interact with each other within the community they live in (your gut). Throughout your life, you shape your own microbiomes. They change in concentration depending on their surroundings.

So they are very responsive to the foods you consume, the sleep you get, your level of stress and your use of medications/antibiotics. These bacteria play a role in boosting your immunity, keeping your digestive systems working smoothly, balancing your hormones and keep your brain working properly!

4. Produces serotonin, and other neurotransmitters.

These Gut-friendly bacteria can help manage neurotransmitter activity, which makes them natural antidepressants and anti-anxiety organisms.

What disrupts gut health?

Years of eating pro-inflammatory, non-organic, processed, nutrient-poor, empty-calorie foods take a toll on the body, leading to many modern chronic diseases that never plagued our ancestors.

Stress induces changes in gastric secretion, the movement of food through the digestive tract, intestinal permeability, blood flow, and inflammation. In times of stress your body slows down digestion or completely turns it off.

How to recognise if your gut needs support

The list of symptoms resulting from poor digestive health is long. And one thing that makes digestive issues especially complex to navigate is that similar symptoms can have different causes. Plus, these symptoms may occur not only within the gut, but far beyond it as well.

In the digestive tract, these signs may show as bloating, changes in bowel movements (either diarrhoea or constipation), gas, discomfort, pain, and acid reflux.

Elsewhere in the body, digestive disorders can cause fatigue, skin conditions, brain fog, anxiety, depression, weight changes joint pain, headaches, infertility, behavioural problems, and nutritional deficiencies.

There are three primary issues concerning the gut that can cause the above symptoms; intestinal permeability (aka leaky gut), food allergies, sensitivities, and intolerances, plus an unhealthy microbiome.

Even if you have no digestive symptoms an imbalance of commenceral microbes – the good ones – can cause skin and other problems.

How to begin restoring your digestive system

Make an appointment to establish which foods you are allergic/ intolerant too so you can avoid them in your diet. Incorporate anti-inflammatory, organic, fresh, whole foods to boost the immune system, exercise, get more sleep, balance your hormones and improve cognitive functioning. Your cells are the building blocks of everything in your body so it’s important to nourish them, providing them with exactly what they need to reproduce and function.

Take a good quality probiotic with at least 8 diverse strains of bacteria and 20 billion colony forming units, we have created one which is available to purchase here which includes Lactobacillus Rhamonsus and Bifidum Infantus – 2 key players

I equate probiotics to vitamins, we know they are good for us.

Vitamin C is good for the skin

Vitamin D helps maintain strong and healthy bones and Vitamin A is for your sight!