What Is Gut Health?

Approximately 1.6 million Americans suffer from Irritable Bowel Disease (IBD) with 70,000 new cases of the diseases diagnosed each year.  With gut health becoming more and more effected by the many stressors we face everyday, these gut diseases are on the rise. Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), leaky gut syndrome, small intestine bacterial overgrowth (SIBO), small intestine fungal overgrowth (SIFO) and other bowel/gut-related conditions all fall into the category of “gut health.”

Common treatments for gut diseases today consist of anti-inflammatory medications, IBS-specific medications, and/or anti-depressant medications.

Unfortunately, all of these treatments fail to address the causes of inflammation and dysfunction and instead only attempt to address the symptoms. For example, the inflammation is present, but why? Where is the inflammation coming from? Those are essential questions to ask with these conditions. We’ll discuss the many things that are damaging your gut and how to address the sources of dysfunction to completely reverse any bowel disease.

The term “gut” refers to a few main organs: the stomach, small intestine, and large intestine. It has been concluded that over 100,000,000,000 (100 trillion) microbial cells occupy, interact, and live within these hollow organs. The summation of these microbes (i.e. the “good” versus the “bad”) and their overall health plays a huge role in our overall gut health. Further, the gut plays a vital role in many other organ systems within the body. For example, a healthy thyroid system needs a healthy gut in order to turn T4 thyroid hormone (inactive) to T3 thyroid hormone (active). A healthy brain needs a healthy gut to have healthy levels of neurotransmitters (brain hormones) like serotonin and dopamine. Long-story short, a healthy gut is essential for a healthy brain, a healthy thyroid system, inflammation, pain, balanced hormones, a strong immune system, a healthy mood, quality sleep, and so much more. Through this article, we will discuss things that commonly contribute to poor gut health, and some comprehensive ways on how to improve gut health, naturally.

Signs and Symptoms Of An Unhealthy Gut

• Poor Digestion or Bloating
• Gastric Reflux (GERD)
• Food Sensitivites/Reactions
• Allergies
• ADD / ADHD
• Chronic Inflammation or Pain
• Emotional Instability
• Skin Problems / Break-Outs
• Poor Brain Functioning
• Anxiety
• Hypothyroidism
• Poor Sleep

YES – an unhealthy gut can cause ANY and ALL of these things listed above! Let’s dive into what causes so much stress on our gut health.

Avoid These Deadly Gut Stressors

1. Infections

Subclinical infections are present in every patient struggling with gut problems. Further, most gut problems are largely caused by gut infections. “Subclinical” refers to the notion that you do not necessarily have a common cold, flu, or even skin infection. It refers to an infection deep within that gives off subtle signs and symptoms that vary depending on the patient. One patient that has a bacterial overgrowth may experience bloating and low thyroid function while another patient with a bacterial overgrowth may experience estrogen-dominance hormonal problems. Every patient is different even though the infection may be similar. This is partly why you need an incredible technique like Systems Health Care to truly unravel what infections are present and what is needed to kill them.

We are talking about parasites, bacteria, fungus, and viruses. When these critters are present and not kept in check by the immune system, they wreak havoc on the entire gut. They deplete you of nutrients causing nutrient deficiencies. Then, they leave behind their metabolic wastes (aldehydes, ammonia, etc.) which wreak even more havoc on your health. Often times there will be symbiotic relationships between infections microbes where they help each other survive in your gut. We call these “co-infections” and they are very popular in gut disorders. They’re also notorious for being present in patients suffering from Lyme disease — read more about Lyme disease here.

2. Destructive Foods

Avoid foods that will tear up your gut and drive inflammation and destruction: artificial chemicals, natural flavors, sugars, sugar alcohols, bleached wheat, enriched flour, food colorings, vegetable oils (vegetable, canola, peanut, palm, etc), processed dairy, alcohol, hydrogenated oils, trans fats, artificial sweeteners (sucralose, aspartame, etc), and all processed foods in general. 

A little reminder – STOP chewing GUM!!! The popular gum brands (stride, trident, extra, and wrigley’s 5) are all full of neuro-toxic chemicals such as sucralose, aspartame, and food coloring! Avoid them like the plague.

Many of these unnatural chemicals kill our intestinal cells resulting in inflammation. The sugars and flours all feed infections resulting in increased “bad” bacteria and fungus! The oils all cause direct inflammation due to an imbalance in the omega-6 to omega-3 balance – this can result in large amounts of pain as well (in the gut or elsewhere). Read more about causes of pain and inflammation here.

Eating and Sleep Habits

Avoid harmful eating habits such as eating too much food too fast. Too often we are eating on the go, getting fast food, eating in a hurry, and overall treating it as a chore rather than something of great importance. Instead of doing those things, slow down. Smell the food as its being cooked, sit down and relax as you’re about to eat. Chew enough and chew slowly. Overall, enjoy your food. Food is meant to nourish our body and give it fuel, but it is also a gift from God to enjoy. Your body and gut will handle and process it far better if you eat this way. 

Additionally, eating right before bed can interfere with the gut healing and cleansing. Anytime food is moving through the digestive tract, it halts any healing processes in order to break down and absorb the food. This negatively impacts our gut’s healing abilities. Apart from that, getting poor quality sleep or low amounts of sleep can significantly hinder the gut’s healing ability all the while increasing stress hormones.

Mental, Physical, and Emotional Stress

Emotional stress can play a HUGE role in our gut health. Have you ever noticed someone become depressed after losing a loved one? Our emotions can impact our gut in powerful ways–for better or for worse. For patients that are living in a very emotionally stressful environment, such as in an abusive relationship, toxic household, or hanging out with toxic people, they need to leave that environment and heal emotionally before their gut may ever be able to truly heal.

Mental stress includes any stress coming from work, life, finances, health, and so on. This can be difficult to manage as sometimes it is outside of our control. This, along with emotional stress, can increase our stress hormones (cortisol, norepinephrine, and epinephrine) making it much more difficult for our body to heal.

Physical stress such as injuries (old and new), fascial imbalances, physical traumas, and so on, can play a large role in contributing to one’s gut health. When we have a lot of physical stress on our system, our body is not as effective at detoxifying and healing—the internal (chemical) health side of things has to take on more stress in these cases. 

Recipe For Great Gut Health

1. Balance Dysbiosis

Gut infections or overgrowths (bacterial, fungal, parasitic, viral) wreak havok like nobody’s business — there is a reason it is listed as #1 here. In order to balance dysbiosis, you must focus largely on killing the infections. I never recommend an antibiotic for this. Antibiotics are often very harsh on all microbes (“good” microbes and “bad”), on the body in general, and are usually not very specific.  We use specific herbal supplements for this to support and stimulate your immune system to kill the infection at hand. For bacterial and fungal infections, we check 25-30 different herbals that may be needed for any one infection. For parasites we check 8-10 different herbals and for viruses we check 10-15 different herbals. Gut infections are very stubborn and need a specific herbal for every scenario and that is why I use Systems Health Care to find infections and find what herbal is needed to kill them — there’s no guess work here.

It is vital that you avoid the many destructive foods mentioned earlier: sugars, vegetable oils, hydrogenated oils, artificial sweeteners, processed dairy, pesticides, and processed foods. This list is by no means exhaustive, however, you’ll want to be sure to avoid these like the PLAGUE!

2. Nourish Your Gut Friends

During and after killing infections, its essential to focus on eating foods that will BLESS your gut. We’re talking about a variety of fruits and vegetables, fermented foods (kombucha, sauerkraut), starches (like tapioca or potato), natural foods (vs processed), and more. These foods feed bacteria and therefor act as “prebiotics” (food for probiotics). Be careful with this one — some prebiotics and prebiotic foods can also feed the “bad” bacteria and cause further problems. Always seek a qualified professional when dealing with deep gut health issues. I recommend a Systems Health Care practitioner, such as myself.  

Part of nourishing our gut friends includes a lot of exposure to various microbial environments. Being outside, barefoot, in the dirt/grass, and coming into contact with things as much as possible is huge for gut health. Diversity is your gut’s best friend and that is why being outside is so helpful. If you don’t have any pets, go get an outdoor animal! They are great for microbial exposure and gut biome diversity.

3. Emotional Health

Maintain healthy relationships and emotions. There is a huge connection between our emotions and the health of our gut and vice-versa. A poor mood can largely cause negative effects on our gut health, and an inflamed/unhealthy gut can negatively impact our mood leading to depression and anxiety (read all about depression and anxiety here). Since there is such a powerful connection, use it to your advantage! Be filled with joy, gratitude, and speak life over yourself and those around you.

4. Balance Your Nervous System

Balancing the nervous system consists of a healthy functioning fascial system and healthy moving joints! This is where addressing fascial injuries/adhesions is essential and where adjustments have their place in making sure our joints are able to move! Grab a massage ball roller online or at your local Walmart. I recommend using it daily for personal maintenance/support. Simply roll over every area of your body with a firm pressure ~5-15min each day. 

Beyond this, active moving habits are crucial. Avoid being stationary for more than 2 hours at once. Moving doesn’t have to mean lifting weights or even running – start with walking, stairs or hills, etc. Then try different movements that cause you to be close to the ground such as crawling. Movement helps with blood flow, lymphatic flow, pain, metabolic processes, balancing the nervous system, and so much more. We were designed and created to move – so move more and move often! 

5. SLEEP More and Sleep Better

Get GREAT sleep. Sleep is the most powerful time for healing the gut. During sleep, large amounts of blood circulates through the intestines to aid in cleansing any impurities, detoxing any toxins, killing any intruders, and repairing. Additionally, less sleep often means higher cortisol levels and there is nothing more anti-healing to the gut than high cortisol levels. When cortisol rises, our body heads into the flight or fight mode – not the rest and digest (parasympathetic) mode we need for true gut healing. Sleep is the one time our body is designed to do nothing but heal and recover. Use this to your advantage! Make sure your pre-bed routine is readying your body for deep, healing sleep. Utilize darkness, heavy blankets, a fan, and more for optimal sleep! Read about Sleep Hygiene  for optimal sleep, here. Lastly,

Struggling with SIBO? IBS? IBD? Chronic Stomach Problems?

At Freedom Health and Wellness, we address all of these things and more through a personalized and functional approach. We help people with chronic diseases and illnesses regain their health by getting to the source of their health concerns.