All Disease Begins in the Gut ~ Hippocrates

By Coach Maria - Salus Nutritionist & Food Expert

Digestive health is a topic that seems to be popping up more frequently in the health & nutrition communities - finally!

Truth is, our digestive health is significant to our hormonal health, which is crucial to our immune health, which ties into our mental health......are you catching on to the interplay?

Let's look at some interesting facts that you may or may not know about:

• 90% of cells are gut bacteria and flora.
• 70% of your immune system lies in your gut.
• Your gut is referred to your "second brain" - controlling the complex task of digestion without the aide of the cranial brain.
• There are 100 trillion bacteria - about 3 pounds worth - lining the intestinal tract and their main function is to aggressively fight off outside intruders.

Are you starting to see how compelling it is to make gut health your priority?

The research over the past two decades, has shown that there is a link between an unhealthy gut and diseases like obesity, rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, depression, autism spectrum disorder, chronic fatigue syndrome.

The most obvious thing to do, would be to avoid things that destroy the good bacteria (gut flora) and damage the intestinal barrier in the gut.

Why?

#1

• Gut flora promotes healthy GI function
• Gut flora provides incredible protection fro infection
• Gut flora balances our metabolism
• Gut flora encompasses 75% of our immune system

If our gut flora is compromised, you can see how it can have detrimental effects on our health.


#2

When the intestinal barrier is compromised:

• Intestinal lining becomes more porous
• Allows undigested food proteins into the bloodstream
• Defense mechanism no longer functions efficiently
• Absorption of nutrients is severely compromised (i.e., nutrients you think you are eating are not being absorbed)

Some of the biggest contributors to unhealthy gut flora and compromised intestinal barrier?

• Diet high in refined carbohydrates, sugars and processed foods
• Chronic stress
• Frequent exposure to dietary toxins like wheat and industrial seed oils (corn, canola, cottonseed, safflower, soybean...)
• Antibiotics, NSAIDs

So what can we do to make certain our guts remain healthy or, if our gut health is already compromised, how to restore gut health?

As much as possible, avoid:

• Cereal grains (most especially refined flours) - damage gut lining, binds essential nutrients, making them unavailable to the body.
• Industrial seed oils - pro-inflammatory, increases omega-6 which is associated with an increase in inflammatory diseases.
• Sugar (most especially high fructose corn syrup) - causes GI dysfunction, can interfere with protein absorption.
• Processed soy (soy milk, soy flour, soy protein) - reduces absorption of nutrients in the body, disrupts endocrine function, can cause thyroid problems in women.

As much as possible, include:

• Lots of fermentable fibers (starches like sweet potato, yam, yucca...)
• Fermented foods (kefir, yogurt, sauerkraut...)
• High quality, multi-species probiotic
• Stress management mechanisms