Gut Health.
Our gut is like a garden and it requires care just like a garden would. Some Scientists nicknamed our gut as our 2nd brain.
Poor Gut health is one of the biggest causes of dis-ease that can create illness in our body.
Symptoms such as: headaches, migraines, allergies, autoimmunity, weight gain, anxiety, depression, acne, skin rashes, yeast infections, hormonal imbalances, fatigue, immune challenges are all indications of your gut health.
Your gut has 5 key roles:
Digestion of food
Absorption of nutrients
Maintenance of an immune barrier to the outside world
A symbotic relationship with favourable bacteria
Detoxification which includes the elimination of waste and toxins from the body
What you put on the end of your fork determines what is going on inside your gut. For example if you eat processed foods such as fried foods, hamburgers etc you will turn on genes that promote inflammation. If you were to eat broccoli, spinach etc. you will turn on anticancer and anti-inflammatory genes.
It is not only food that determines our guts health. Stress can also shift our microbiome as well as antibiotics.
Antibiotics are simply over prescribed by our medical system. Our gut flora is altered each time we take antibiotics and can lead to Candida, yeast overgrowth. Therefore, it is so important to eat the right foods everyday and include cultured or fermented foods to help balance the gut flora.
If you are feeling exhausted, bloated, cramps, gassy, in pain etc repairing your gut will make you feel so much better.
We can repair the gut by:
Remove gut irritants, such as things you may have a food sensitivity too, processed foods, gluten and dairy etc.
Replace with healthy digesting foods and essential nutrients such as healing foods. i.e. fruits, herbs and spices
Repair the gut with healing supplements such as l’glutamine, aloe vera, turmeric, zinc etc.
Rebalance the gut with a good probiotic.
Some foods and drinks that promote good gut health are:
Beans
Apples
Asparagus
Broccoli
Bananas
Leafy Greens
Sweet Potatoe
Wholegrains
Garlic
Seaweed
Along with cultured foods such as tofu, tempeh, certain yogurts and cheeses and fermented foods and drinks such as kim chi, our apple cider vinegar based Heal thy Soda beverages are the perfect additions to include into your diet to promote a beneficial gut flora.
And remember, “All dis-ease begins in the gut” - Hippocrates