Nutrition #5 - Trust Your Gut

Sentences like "trust your gut" and "it made me sick" and "gut instinct" are all familiar to us. Have you ever thought about what they actually mean? Turns out there is a lot more science behind these sayings than you would ever guess.

Science proves that chronic diseases like rheumatoid arthritis, diabetes, obesity, and even things like depression and other ailments are all linked to an unhealthy gut. More and more we are figuring out that creating a healthy gut environment is pivotal to our overall health and well-being. 

We have over 100 trillion micoorganisms residing inside of our guts. There is more bacteria in our body than our own cells. The human body is literally just a massive physical vehicle for gut bugs to traverse around the world in a symbiotic relationship, and based on modern day diet we continue feeding the bad guys while starving the good guys. 

What I mean by that is we have both healthy and benign bacteria in our bodies that contribute to proper neurotransmitter production (happiness, sleepiness), hormone creation, vitamin & mineral absorption, macronutrient breakdown, and other various but important enzymatic processes. And we have bad gut bacteria, which contribute to inflammation, block the absorption and assimilation of vitamins and nutrients, prevent the breakdown of nutrients in our gut, and are related to a series of other problems in the body that stem from the gut. 

It sounds scary to think about the fact that we have good and evil gut bugs inside our bodies, but this information should be empowering! It is important to know that we have a high degree of control over this population of bacteria - based on what we eat, how we sleep, our circadian rhythm, how we manage stress, and other lifestyle choices like drinking alcohol or smoking cigarettes, we can support either side of the inter-gut war of bacteria that is being waged within us every minute of every day. 

And by supporting the good guys through proper lifestyle choices, we can improve our moods, our sleep, our energy, our recovery, our mental acuity, even things like our sex drive and sense of well-being. 

It is important to realize this so that we can take steps to reclaim our health and win the battle against the bad gut bugs as opposed to letting them dictate how we are. 

The Gut-Brain Barrier

We are learning that the gut and brain are linked directly via something called the Gut-Brain barrier, which is connected to our Central Nervous System. When we are nervous and get a stomach ache, this explains why. Or if we are hungry and our mind loses focus.  Our gut bugs are the 'gatekeepers' to what comes into our bodies, and when we have unhealthy or improperly functioning gut bacteria, inflammation occurs in our gut which can travel upstream and cause brain fog, cognitive decline, hormone disruption, and depression. 

A great mind who has done a lot of research in this field, Chris Kresser, explains the gut-brain barrier very well:

"Now one of the earliest signs of the brain not firing well is poor vagal activity, which will manifest as decreased pancreatic enzyme secretion, poor gallbladder function, and poor gut function overall. And it basically works like this, you have decreased activity in the brain..... and that decreases the activation of the vagal motor nuclei, which in turns suppresses the intestinal immune system and decreases intestinal blood flow. And when that happens you get an increased growth in pathogenic yeast and bacteria, that cause intestinal permeability or leaky gut, which we’ve talked about a lot, and leaky gut causes a state of chronic low grade inflammation. Then the inflammatory cytokines produced in the gut travel through the blood and they cross the blood-brain barrier.....So your brain gets inflamed, you get a leaky brain and then you get inflamed brain."

 Basically what he is explaining is that the brain and the gut are linked via a cycle which contributes to a decline in the health of both if you do not take care of them!

Take Care of Your Gut

So where does that leave us? You are probably wondering how can I prevent this from happening or at the very least, improve my gut health?

I'll tell you how. Here are my top 5 tips to restoring the healthy gut bacteria and limiting the bad ones.

1) Reduce or eliminate your consumption of refined sugars, carbohydrates, and gluten. For many people, this is a quick win. Almost all breakfast food and supermarket aisle packaged goods contain these inflammatory ingredients which our bad gut bacteria love to eat. Cut it out of your diet and you will experience a rapid improvement in health and well-being.

2) Eat soluble fiber. This is another quick win for many - soluble fiber will feed the healthy bacteria in your gut and they will multiply. Soluble fiber also will draw water into your intestines and make you feel full and satisfied. It has also been shown to have a beneficial effect on insulin sensitivity, which will help prevent fat gain. You can find soluble fiber in starchy root vegetables like carrots, beets, squash, and sweet potatoes, which are my personal favorite source of this, but you can also get some in bananas, apples, strawberries, and various fruits and other sources.

3) Eat fermented foods.  Things like kefir, sauerkraut, plain yogurt (no added sugar!!!) and other fermented vegetables are great probiotic sources, which means they help contribute to the good guys population. Be sure to choose raw and organic sources of these in order to get the highest quality.

4) Consume bone broth. Bone broth is extremely rich in collagen, and specifically an amino acid called glycine which contributes to healing our gut lining by patching it up.  Bone broth is extremely rich in various other minerals and amino acids that are deficient in an average diet. I consider it a superfood and big win for almost everyone who consumes it regularly. A cheap way to get the benefits of bone broth without having to cook a crock pot every Sunday is to consume 10 grams of glutamine and 10 grams of collagen or gelatin protein powder from a quality source, which does not provide optimal benefits but still can help heal the gut. I prefer Upgraded Collagen from Bulletproof Executive, which is a bit higher quality than other collagens on the market due to it being enzymatically broken down into our precious amino acids as opposed to being subject to the high heat evaporation method.

5) Keep a food log. This is very important to understanding how different foods affect you. By keeping a journal and making entries around what you ate, after a couple weeks of doing this consistently you will have a much better understanding of how things make you feel. Be sure to make notes when you consume something like supermarket dairy and you break out with a pimple the next day. Or if you have regular potatoes and they cause you to have an upset stomach. Track your mood, your energy, your digestion, your overall feelings and satisfaction with a meal, and your sleep.



So there you have it. Hopefully this post has made you think about your gut health in a more critical fashion, and you start to take care of those good bugs! Always remember - YOU are in control of your health. Not your environment, not your genetics, YOU. Take advantage of your own ability to look within and begin to understand your body. Recognize the power you carry within yourself. And unleash that potential.