TRUST YOUR GUT: YOUR COMPLETE GUIDE TO GUT HEALTH

Written by Brittany Kavcsak, Intern at Nutrition with Ashley

Gut health has become an increasingly trendy topic, and for good reason. An unhealthy gut can wreak havoc in the body through a number of ways; while a healthy gut can promote a healthy immune system, reduce the risk of certain diseases, improve mood disorders, etc.

A healthy gut microbiome has the ability to positively impact all body systems. Healthy guts sounds great, right? But the task of understanding and achieving gut health can feel daunting when you are standing at the start line. In order to give you all those gutsy tools you need to succeed, I want to take you through:

Foundational gut knowledge

Influences on gut health

Benefits of a healthy gut

How to build up your own gut health

WHAT EXACTLY IS THE GUT AND WHAT DO I NEED TO KNOW ABOUT IT?

The digestive system seems simple at first glance. We eat, we digest, we absorb, we use what we can from our food, and our body eliminates the rest. However, the gut is made up of two thin layers of over 100 million nerve cells lining your entire GI tract; which is home to more than 100 trillion bacteria. Your gut microbiome is essentially the “micro”, or tiny, “biome”, community of bacteria inhabiting the gut.

As your digestive system does its job, it constantly sends messages to your brain and body, influencing several processes in the body, from hormone regulation to inflammation. Behavioral disorders such as anxiety and depression, autoimmune disorders, neurological conditions, and more, have all been positively affected by an improvement in their gut health. Studies show 90% of human illness is linked to an unhealthy gut.

The Human Microbiome Project notes that the good bacteria in our body, “produce certain vitamins that we do not have the genes to make, break down our food to extract nutrients we need to survive, teach our immune systems how to recognize dangerous invaders and even produce helpful anti-inflammatory compounds that fight off other disease-causing microbes.”

“...everything about our health - how we feel both emotionally and physically - hinges on the state of our microbiome.” - Dr. David Perlmutter