If you know me, you know I’m incredibly passionate about holistic health and the idea that what you put in your body and on your body matters.
I’m living proof of this.
If you aren’t familiar with my story, I struggled with gut issues growing up for as long as I can remember, from my teenage years through my early 30s.... until I started learning ALL about the gut, what creates an imbalance, and various ways to support it.
Literally, EVERYTHING stems from the gut, everything!
Hopefully, after reading this post, you will feel educated and empowered to take better control of your digestive health and make changes to improve and heal your gut.
So, WHY is Gut Health SO Important?
Let me just tell you...the health of your gut is CRAZY important to your overall health and well-being. The health of your digestive system can affect your body’s...
- vitamin and mineral absorbency
- hormone regulation
- digestion
- vitamin production
- immune response
- ability to eliminate toxins
- mental health {gut-brain axis}
Studies show that there is an incredible connection between gut health and mood.
Those who suffer from digestive imbalance are more likely to suffer from autoimmune disorders and occasional moodiness - or more significant emotional challenges.
The body's hormones (yes men AND women AND developing children) are made in the gut, and we all need as many happy, well-functioning hormones as possible. If your gut isn’t happy it’s going to be hard to feel well overall.
Can any of you relate to the gut health/mood connection? Especially after the last two years? I sure can!
Let’s first go over some myths relating to the gut:
We all have heard things like the myths below. And oftentimes, these things become factual information in our minds, even though they aren't based on actual facts.
They are simply NOT true.
Example: Common = normal.
Just because something is “common” in today’s society doesn’t mean it’s “normal” or the way our bodies were designed and intended the thrive.
Example: Going poop once a week is normal.
Um yeah, not cool. You need to be going 1-2 times a day at least. Fun fact: the average American is walking around with 10 pounds of impacted old, stale poop in their colon. Yikes.
Example: What you eat while pregnant and nursing don’t affect your baby’s gut health.
It matters. Truly it does. What we place in our bodies AND our own emotional state has a direct impact on our baby in the womb.
Example: Allergies are just a normal part of life.
Nope. You weren’t designed to have allergies, day-to-day inflammation, blocked lymph nodes, poor detox pathways, or an immune system that is continually feeling “off”. The truth of it all is that the gut plays a huge role in all of these things and more.
Example: You haven’t had any health issues so far, so you have nothing to be concerned about.
Really? Sometimes people are living in such a state of inflammation they believe that is what health “feels like” without knowing what true health is and how amazing they can actually feel! Benjamin Franklin once said, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” Now, that’s a true truth!
Example: All things with acid will make reflux worse.
This is also a myth. Try some apple cider vinegar or some Lemon Vitality in your water and see what happens. 🍋 - This is also where the oral microbiome matters greatly. Try swishing a tbsp of coconut oil in your mouth every evening then spit it out. Also, Thieves Mouthwash is incredible for creating a strong biome.
So what we can see in the examples above is that there are many, many things we hear in our culture that simply are not true, but we as the owner of our bodies and families must dig deeper.
Here are my TOP choices to begin a journey of creating a strong ecosystem in your gut.
The “gut” by the way is not just the stomach, it actually begins in your mouth with the oral microbiome and the moment digestive enzymes begin to form (especially when you smell that cinnamon roll!) so it’s taking care of the mouth all the way down to the colon (remember to poop!)
Start making lifestyle changes
It’s not taboo, silly, or too far-fetched to think that what we are breathing, touching, and eating in our home is affecting our health negatively and it matters what we choose to expose ourselves and our children to. What we are exposed to outside our home matters too, but we don’t live in a bubble and can’t avoid every environmental toxin, so thank goodness for Ningxia + oils to detox that junk 🤣
Anyway…
1. One cleaner is all that you need = Thieves home cleaner
2. Real food. Read ingredient labels + avoid trigger foods, dyes + artificial sweeteners
3. Diffuse oils instead of air fresheners, candles, or other fragrances
4. You can’t out supplement or oil a poor diet (changes are necessary)
Probiotics
Probiotics (beneficial bacteria) produce and regulate a number of neurotransmitters and hormones that impact our sleep and overall health as well as our immune response):
- Tryptophan and Melatonin: Probiotics can increase blood levels of tryptophan, an amino acid that converts into serotonin and then into melatonin, the hormone that regulates how sleepy you feel.
- Serotonin: Dubbed the “happy” chemical, serotonin helps to regulate mood and plays a significant role in sleep quality. Researchers found that serotonin deficiency in rats led to disrupted circadian rhythms and sleep-wake cycles (aka restless sleep).
- The vast majority of serotonin in the body (over 90%) is manufactured in the gut, and gut microbes regulate the amount produced.
- GABA: Good bacteria help to produce GABA, the calming brain chemical, as well as enhance its brain receptors.
- Cortisol: If temporary stress and anxiety are the cause of your sleepless nights, rest assured that probiotics can lower levels of cortisol, a hormone that becomes elevated during times of stress.
Gut microbes also have their own daily rhythms that influence our circadian rhythms, affecting our metabolism and how we sleep. In one study, mice fed a typical Western high-seed oil fat, high-sugar diet that depleted beneficial bacteria showed circadian rhythm disruptions that led to a host of other problems, like weight gain.
Our guts do not make good bacteria on their own. We have to manually replenish it with a combination of food like kimchi or fermented foods AND probiotic supplements. My favorite is Life9.
Did you know - Stress and high emotions are the #1 way to strip your gut of a healthy ecosystem of beneficial bacteria? Think about the world we live in today, our emotional response is either an opportunity to thrive or to become physically sick thru the state of our gut and our emotional health.
Enzymes
For our bodies to break down food efficiently and effectively, we need a sufficient supply of digestive enzymes.
The pancreas produces some of these digestive enzymes, while others are produced in the stomach, and still, others are secreted by the salivary glands and glands in the small intestines. Raw foods naturally contain their own enzymes that make their own digestion easier, sadly, the more refined the foods we eat are, the more digestive enzymes our body must produce on its own to absorb nutrients properly.
Unfortunately, as we age, the gut becomes less efficient and we naturally begin to produce fewer digestive enzymes. This results, in more difficulty for our bodies to completely break down the proteins, fats, and carbohydrates in the foods we eat.
As you can imagine this process can lead to a myriad of digestive health problems ranging from excessive gas and bloating to food allergies and food intolerances and eventually chronic disease.
Enzymes are present in all living animal and plant cells. They are actually the primary motivators of all-natural biochemical processes. Simply put, life cannot exist without enzymes because they are essential components of every chemical reaction in the body. Enzymes are the only substance that can digest food and make it small enough to pass through the gastrointestinal mucosa into the bloodstream.
For all these reasons, I believe it is imperative that we use digestive enzymes along with our meals. This will alleviate a lot of stress from both our digestive and immune systems. Food enzymes act like solvents that naturally break foods down into the components that allow them to be absorbed and used by the body. They work throughout the GI tract.
I personally love Young Living’s Essentialzyme-4 the most and occasionally use Detoxzyme for the small size and powerful impact - but all the YL enzymes rock. If you need help grabbing either one of these items, my DM's are always open, or you can click here to purchase through me and get access to our exclusive wellness community.
And there you go! Happy gut = happy, healthy, and thriving life!
