Show Your Gut Some Love: Signs It Needs Support and How to Respond

The gut does so much behind-the-scenes work for our entire body, but it doesn’t always get a lot of credit. Some of the important work it does is taking care of digesting food, absorbing nutrients, producing neurotransmitters, balancing hormones, detoxification, and helping keep a good balance of bacteria that has a huge influence on our vitality and well-being. But, how do we know if this incredible system in our body needs some extra attention? So many symptoms have become common, but they are certainly not normal. Let’s take a look at the signs that may indicate guy dysfunction and some tangible steps you can take to start supporting it today.

Here Are Some Signs to Be Aware Of:

• Digestive Symptoms: Ongoing bloating, gas, constipation, or diarrhea are red flags that your gut is trying to tell you something. These symptoms may be signaling that there’s an imbalance of bacteria or fungi, low digestive output, food intolerance, or other gut, or digestive dysfunction.
• Skin Issues: The health of your gut is directly associated with the health of your skin. If you have acne, eczema, rashes, or psoriasis, this is often a sign of gut imbalances.₁
• Emotional Instability: Studies have shown that an imbalance in gut bacteria can influence mental health.₂ If you are experiencing anxiety, irritability, or mood swings, it may be helpful to dig deeper into the state of your gut health.
• Food Sensitivities: Do you feel bloated and gassy, nauseated, constipated, have joint pain, or have chronic fatigue? These are some of the symptoms that can be associated with food sensitivities. Food sensitivities often accompany “leaky gut”, where foods end up passing through the gut lining into the bloodstream. This sets your immune system off, leading to increased inflammation in your body.
• Chronic Fatigue: If you’re feeling tired and worn out, it may be an indication of not absorbing nutrients from your food. Poor nutrient absorption leads to nutrient deficiencies and fatigue.

If you’re undergoing any of these symptoms, it may be time to give your gut some TLC and take a deeper look into its functioning and terrain.

Here Are Some Action Steps You Can Take to Enhance Your Gut Health:

• Reduce or eliminate inflammatory oils like seed and vegetable oils. Consuming these oils instead of healthy fats and oils contributes to essential fatty acid deficiency and results in inflammation.₃
• Work on increasing the integrity of the gut lining: incorporate meat stock, bone broth, collagen, and colostrum.
• Chew your food to an applesauce consistency. Our stomachs don’t have teeth. When we chew our food well, it helps with releasing enzymes (mostly amylase) which helps to start breaking down food and reduces the burden on the rest of the digestive system.
• Manage stress as much as possible. Take 5 deep breaths before each meal to support a parasympathetic nervous system to “rest and digest”. Read this blog for more ideas on how to get into a “rest and digest” mode.
• Eat a wide variety of vegetables and fruits. The more diverse of produce, the more food is provided for your beneficial gut bugs. The fiber in these foods helps promote a healthy balance of bacteria in the gut. However, if you are having difficulty digesting these types of foods, you may need to cook them or remove them temporarily until more gut healing has been achieved.
• Reduce processed foods and refined sugar. Regularly consuming processed foods and refined sugar can decrease the balance of beneficial bacteria in your gut, resulting in dysbiosis.
• Include probiotic foods: This helps promote a healthy balance of beneficial bacteria in the gut. Kefir, yogurt, beet kvass, sauerkraut, kimchi, and fermented pickles are some great options!
• Work with a gut health practitioner to help you pinpoint the root causes of your gut issues and receive a personalized protocol to get on the path to healing. I offer the GI-MAP stool test and MRT Food Sensitivity Test to clients which can help save money, time, and frustration in the long run when addressing chronic gut issues.

Making sure you provide your gut with the attention that it needs is essential. By becoming aware of the signs that your gut may need some TLC and taking action to support it, you can optimize your overall health and well-being.

If you need some support with your gut health or digestion, reach out by selecting the button below. We can chat about what my support would look like, and if my services would be a good fit for you.

References:

1. Widhiati, S., Purnomosari, D., Wibawa, T., & Soebono, H. (2021). The role of gut microbiome in inflammatory skin disorders: A systematic review. Dermatology reports, 14(1), 9188.
2. Foster, J. A., & McVey Neufeld, K. A. (2013). Gut-brain axis: how the microbiome influences anxiety and depression. Trends in neurosciences, 36(5), 305–312.
3. Nutritional Therapy Association. Fatty Acids-Dysfunction. [PDF file]. 2020. P 5.