How Gut Health Influences Your Overall Health
You are what you eat! Pretty sure you’ve heard that before,and in these times when Health is of the utmost priority, it’s more of a warning than an analogy. That guilty pleasure you can’t wait to wolf down might be doing more harm than good. Today we’re going to take a look how the health of your Gut influences your overall health.
First, we have to understand what inhabits our stomachs before we move forward. We start with the Gut Microbiome, this is where the Bacteria that helps digest and break down food resides. Most diseases stem from the imbalance of these Bacteria or Flora in your Gut. When there is an imbalance, there is a deficiency in strength to carry out the Gut’s normal functions. This may affect, but is not limited to, the following.
Immune System
Your Gut Microbiome communicates with the Immune System cells to keep you, the host, safe. Seeing as 70% of the Immune System is found in the gut, this places your gut at the forefront of the body’s defense against Pathogens.
Brain Health
There’s a reason that your intuition is dubbed as “Gut feeling”! The Brain and your Gut have a very close relationship. Studies have gone to show that problems in your Gut lead to stress, anxiety and mood alteration. Not to mention chronic pain. When your Gut health begins to affect your Central Nervous System, it goes to show we’re wading in murky waters indeed.
Heart Health
I love Eggs and Steak as much as the next person, probably even more! But I could be putting myself at risk of Stroke, Blood Clots and Chronic Kidney diseases. You see, such foods as those stated above, contain a nutrient called Choline. Your Gut Bacteria feasts on this nutrient, in turn producing TMAO or Trimethylamine-N-Oxide. TMAO then contributes to the build up of Cholesterol in your blood vessels.
Obesity and Weight Gain
Gut bacteria influences digestion of certain foods and also production of chemicals that determine if you feel full or not. That is how Gut Bacteria influences Weight gain. Since the bacteria comes into direct contact with the food you consume, the bacteria also determine how energy is stored in your body.
Think of the Bacteria in your Gut as an army, you can send reinforcements in order to help them fight the good fight. One way of doing this is by consuming foods rich in Fiber and Probiotics. Probiotics are Bacteria and Yeasts which are good for you. They make your immunity stronger and improve your Gastrointestinal health. These are found in Yogurt, Cheese, pickled Veggies, Onions and Gherkins but to mention a few.
Your body needs all the help it can get in regulation and boosting of the Gut Microbiome and the best way to do this is keeping a keen eye on what we put in our bodies.
Adding certain super foods to one’s diet may serve the purpose of improving immunity. This is true in cases where nature’s super foods have been known to work in place of medication. When diet gets right the depending on medication lessens and the body feels healthier.
In many cases stopping to think about treating the gut right contributes to our health conditions. They are very much connected with our diets.With this line of thought in mind it is always good to stop and think about our diets. What is the healthy treat that you have given your gut today? Or when did you last eat a healthy meal – a potent power packed super-food?
