April 19, 2018

Your Daily Routine For a Healthy Gut

Photo on Katy Belcher on Unsplash

Let’s face it – talking about your gut may not be that interesting. But it’s important that you understand just how much your gut impacts your overall health. Everything from hormone regulation to a healthy weight is impacted by your gut, so it’s critical that you know both how it works and how to keep it working at its best.

Introduction to your Gut

Think about your gut the same way you think about your skin. Your skin is the first line of defense from the environment. When you get a cut for instance, bacteria is able to penetrate the body and cause damage. But, if our skin and immune systems are healthy, we wont have to worry about that bacteria, as our immune system will be able to fight it off. Your gut works in much of the same way.

The gut lining seals our external environment from our internal one, but it allows particles like the nutrients from our food in, in order for our bodies to use them to create the energy we need. If there are things getting into our gut that harm our bodies (antibiotics, microbial imbalances, pesticides, and processed foods), our immune system will be triggered to repair the damage. But it consistent harmful factors are introduced, the cycle of an unhealthy gut begins. With our current lifestyle and food choices, our gut permeability is greatly impacted. The good news is that there are some things you can do in order to support a healthy gut.

How to Support A Healthy Gut

The first thing on your healthy gut checklist should be to remove certain foods or agitators from your diet and environment. This includes factors like processed foods and antibiotics. Cut out processed foods and try to stick to healthy options like vegetables, fruits, nuts and fish. Antibiotics are a good thing for your sickness or condition, but it can cause nutrient deficiencies throughout your body. Check out this Drug-Induced Nutrient Depletion Chart, created by Scientific Director Jerry Hickey, R.Ph, in order to find out what deficiency your antibiotic is causing.

Once you’ve realized you have nutritional deficiencies, the best thing to do is to fill them in. Like your skin, your gut has cells that need to be fed in order to sustain its structure. There are some digestive health supplements that can help you fill these nutritional gaps, including Quercetin (involved in inflammation, digestive and immune functions in the body), Zinc (for the metabolism of proteins, fats and carbs), Glutamine (a vital nutrient for the intestines to build and repair itself), Slippery Elm (supports healthy digestion and is a medicinal herb for relief from constipation and diarrhea), and Inulin (stimulates the growth of bacteria in the gut).

Lastly, you’ll want to feed your gut what it needs in order to thrive! This, of course, includes probiotics. Probiotics are friendly bacteria that make up your gut and are the key to good health, especially digestion and regularity. Levels of probiotics decrease with age and can also be affected by factors like a poor diet and obesity. As the levels of probiotics decrease, problematic bacteria will thrive causing digestive and skin issues. But not all Probiotic supplements are equal! You’ll want to use a Probiotic with five non-GMO bacterial strains that can support microbial diversity. A superior probiotic will also be free of milk, soy and wheat and supplied in CFU (colony-forming units) ensuring their survival through stomach acids and intestinal enzymes.