Story by Georgia Dodd • Saturday
Some people say that the gut is the body’s second brain.
So, when you have an unhealthy gut, it can affect your entire body. Your digestive system contains a healthy amount of bacteria, which helps regulate your digestion, and benefits your immune system. When the bacterium in your gut becomes imbalanced, you’ll likely experience surprising symptoms like digestive issues (such as bloating, constipation, diarrhea, or excessive gas), frequent infections or illnesses, also skin problems (such as acne, eczema, or rashes), and even mental health issues (such as anxiety, depression, or brain fog).
To learn more about these unexpected symptoms of an unhealthy gut, we spoke with Cindy Wilson, a certified nutritionist and owner of Nutri Inspector, and Lori Walker, a registered dietitian, freelance food and nutrition writer, and recipe developer at Easy Kitchen Guide. Find out more below!
READ MORE: These 3 Diet Habits Are Destroying Your Gut Health, Experts Warn
1. Digestive Issues
One major symptom of an unhealthy gut, as you’d expect, is digestive issues.
This can include anything from bloating and constipation to diarrhea and excessive
gas. Digestive issues, Walker says, can be the result of a gut bacteria imbalance or inflammation in the gut lining.
“Bloating,” she says.” can be caused by a buildup of gas in the digestive tract due to poor absorption of nutrients from food, also known as malabsorption syndrome.” And, if you are suffering from abdominal pain, this could be an indicator that there is inflammation
in the gut lining.
“Excessive gas,” Walker states, “is often caused by improper digestion leading to
food fermentation in the intestines which produces extra carbon dioxide and methane. Constipation and diarrhea may result from inadequate fiber intake or eating foods that your body cannot easily digest such as those high in sugar and fat.”
2. Frequent Infections Or Illnesses
Another sign that you might have an unhealthy gut is if you find yourself under
the weather frequently. Chronic infections or illnesses are the results of a weakened
immune system. Wilson notes, “Frequent infections can also occur when the gut
microbiome is compromised and unable to fight off harmful pathogens.”
3. Skin Problems
And, if you’re noticing your skin suffering from irritations like acne, eczema,
or rashes, you might be suffering from an unhealthy gut with a gut bacteria imbalance. Skin problems can also be related to gut health because, Wilson says, “the gut and skin share a connection through the immune system.”
4. Mental Health Issues
Another surprising symptom of an unhealthy gut can be an increase in mental health issues like anxiety, depression, or even brain fog syndrome. But, what is brain fog?
Brain fog is defined as confusion, absentmindedness, and a lack of focus.
While this syndrome is usually caused by overworking, a lack of sleep, or stress,
brain fog is sometimes the result of poor gut health.
“Mental health issues can be influenced by gut bacteria,” Wilson explains, “as the gut produces neurotransmitters that affect the brain.” Similarly, Walker says that, “Fatigue can be the result of an imbalance of gut bacteria leading to poor nutrient absorption and impaired energy production.”
READ MORE: The Gut-Healthy Fermented Food You Can Add To Every Meal For Healthier Digestion
Gut Brain Axis Research – Bing video
Ways To Improve Gut Health
So, if you feel that you’re experiencing any of these symptoms, you may have an unhealthy gut and you should reach out to your medical provider or doctor. They may suggest some tips and tricks for improving your gut microbiome. First, eat a balanced, nutrient-rich diet of fiber, fruits, vegetables, and fermented foods. Avoiding dairy and instead opting for a healthier dairy replacement like coconut milk can also help your gut.
Drink plenty of water and limit alcohol and caffeine consumption to stay hydrated. Managing stress and getting enough rest is also an expert-recommended way to boost
your gut health. And, finally, you can also take probiotics or prebiotics to improve your healthy gut microbiome.
“Eating more fermented foods such as kimchi, sauerkraut, miso soup, and yogurt can help increase beneficial bacterial populations in the intestines while avoiding processed foods [that] contain artificial ingredients and preservatives will reduce inflammation in the gut,” Walker suggests. “Additionally, regular exercise, adequate sleep, and reducing stress can all help improve gut health by promoting better digestion and nutrient absorption. Lastly, taking probiotic or prebiotic supplements may be beneficial in restoring the balance of gut bacteria and improving nutrient absorption from food.”Healthy Bacteria – Probiotics – Bing video
Are you suffering from stomach pain after eating, bloating, stomach cramps,
constipation, diarrhea, irritable bowel syndrome, or excessive flatulence?
Your gut could be in a major state of dysbiosis and in need of a reboot.
This blog will show you how to repair your gut and bring an end to your suffering.
About Me – The Dysbiosis Diet
My name is Pete Rowe and this website is my story of how I beat chronic dysbiosis 8 years ago, and in the process cured myself of a number of other dysbiosis related conditions I’d suffered from since childhood, including IBS, acid reflux/GERD, and hemorrhoids.
I’m also predisposed to Type 2 Diabetes and my blood sugar levels were steadily rising as each year passed. I’m happy to say that my blood sugar is now back to normal and it’s all down to developing and following The Dysbiosis Diet.
The definition of dysbiosis is a microbial imbalance inside the body. We have evolved with bacteria over millions of years and formed a symbiotic relationship with the bacteria that inhabit our digestive tract.
The bacteria that live on and in our body are collectively known as our microbiome.
We give our microbiome food and shelter and in return it provides a number of benefits,
including the regulating of our digestive system.
When the balance of good and bad bacteria becomes imbalanced, we lose these benefits and enter a state of dysbiosis. This leads to chronic illnesses such as IBS, acid reflux/GERD, constipation, hemorrhoids, and many more digestive related illnesses.
The principles laid out in the Dysbiosis Diet are designed to rebalance our microbiome. Our microbiome is key to our digestive health and our diet is not only key to an optimal microbiome, but also to our overall health.
However, first we need to lay the foundations for our microbiome to grow and thrive so we can start benefiting from it, and that means reducing the number of pathogens, healing the tight junctions of the intestines, and providing the right environment that our commensal (good) bacteria will want to set up home in. Gut Brain Axis Research – Bing images
50 Unhealthy Foods to Ban from Your Diet Immediately (msn.com)
Click here to jump right in and get started.
Pamela Wartian Smith, MD: Hormone Replacement & Anti Aging Supplements – Life Extension
Dr. Pamela Wartian Smith, M.D., MPH, MS is an internationally known speaker, author, and physician in the area of Anti-Aging, Functional, and Precision Medicine. and has been a medical doctor for 44 years. She spent her first twenty years of practice as an emergency room physician with the Detroit Medical Center and then 24-years as also an Anti-Aging/ Functional Medicine specialist. She is a diplomat of the Board of the American Academy of Anti-Aging Physicians and is an internationally known speaker and author on the subject of Precision Medicine.
Anti-Aging Expert Dr. Pamela Smith Discusses Transition to Integrative Health – Redefining Medicine – Bing video
She also holds a Master’s in Public Health Degree along with a Master’s Degree in Metabolic and Nutritional Medicine. Dr. Smith is in private practice and is the senior partner for The Center For Precision Medicine with offices in Michigan and Florida.
She is the Founder of Precision Medicine Consultants, helping medical professionals
build their brands. She has been featured on CNN, PBS, and many other television networks, has been interviewed in numerous consumer magazines, and has hosted
two of her own radio shows.
EPISODE 6 SERIES DR PAMELA WARTIAN SMITH – YouTube
Dr. Smith was one of the featured physicians on the PBS series “The Embrace of Aging” as well as the on-line medical series “Awakening from Alzheimer’s” and “Regain Your Brain”. Dr. Pamela Smith is the founder of The Fellowship in Anti-Aging, Regenerative, and Functional Medicine and is the past co-director of the Master’s Program in Metabolic and Nutritional Medicine at The Morsani College of Medicine, University of South Florida. She is the author of eight best-selling books. Books – Pamela Smith MD (mdpamelasmith.com)
Her book: “What You Must Know About Vitamins, Minerals, Herbs, and So Much More” is an excellent read.
#76: Dr. Jill Interviews Dr. Pamela Smith on Maximizing Immunity – Bing video
Her newest book: “Max Your Immunity,” has just been released.
Why you are passionate about studying the microbiome and/or what motivated you to begin studying microbiome therapeutics:
”When I was 25 years old, I delivered my first child. Ten days postpartum I had a volvulus and infarcted off my ileum all the way to the ileocecal valve. Consequently, as an adult, I have never had a normal GI function until now. This life-changing experience has made me a much better and more empathetic physician. In addition, it has also motivated me to become passionate about studying the GI tract.“
What are 3 tips you would share with fellow healthcare professionals if asked how to support a consistent healthcare journey for the patients who struggle with staying on the road to success through a tough healing process?
1. Meet the patient where they are if you want to be successful in helping them be healthy.
2. Always show the patient charity, grace, and mercy.
3. Remember it is all about balance.
The Truth About Hormones and Why You Need to Care with special guest Dr. Pamela Smith – TRI (reinvention-institute.com)
Redefining Medicine with special guest Dr. Pamela Smith – Redefining Medicine – Podcast – Podtail
♫ Redefining Medicine with special guest Dr. Pamela Smith (iheart.com)
There are no results for Stress, Our Perception, Oxytocin, And Nervous System.
There’s a study that tracks 30,000 American adults for eight years, and they started by asking people, how much stress have you been experiencing for the past year, they also ask if you believe that stress is harmful to your health?
They then use public death record to find out who passed away; people who experience a lot of stress past year has a 43% increased risk of dying, but that was only true if they believe that stress is harmful to their health. On the other side, people who experience much stress, but did not view stress is harmful to our body, had the lowest risk of dying much like those who suffer very little stress.
In fact, over the eight years of tracking death, 182,000 of American dies prematurely not from stress, but from the believes that stress is bad for you! That is an estimation of about 20 000 death per year, just from our perception. Studies have shown that when you change your mind about stress, you can change our body responds to stress, all controlled by our nervous system.
Your body is energized, and preparing you, to meet the challenge, it pumped the heart harder, to help us takes in more oxygen for the brain (1). In another study conducted at Harvard University, researchers put participants in a stressful situation, but they were told to view stress as an energizer for the body to help meet the challenge. They were taught that the pounding heart and the rapid breathing is normal, as these supply more oxygen to the brain.
As a result, they were less stressed out, less anxious, more confident. However, the fascinating part is their physical stress response. While their heart was beating hard, their blood vessels stayed relaxed. As for those who have the perception that stress is harmful to their body, researchers found that their blood vessels constrict – part of the reason why chronic stress may lead to cardiovascular disease like heart attack, angina or stroke.
Normal constriction of blood vessel during stress.
Relaxed state of blood vessel during stress from a changed belief system about stress. Similarly, in the moment of joy and courage, our heart is pumping hard, but our blood vessels remain relaxed. This difference in biological changes could be the difference between people that had a stress-induced stroke or heart attack at their 50s, then those who live well up until their 90s. The new stress studies reveal that the way we perceive stress matters (1).
Another misconception we usually view stress is that stress isolates us from everyone else, on the contrary, it makes us social. Oxytocin (also known as the cuddle hormone) is a neurohormone, it fine tunes our brain social instinct, it primes us, to do things that strengthens close relationships. Oxytocin also makes us crave for more physical contact, with our friends and family, it increases our empathy, and it even makes us more willing to help and support people we care about.
However, most of us do not realize; Oxytocin is a stress hormone!
There’s a part of our brain called the pituitary gland that pumps this hormone out as a stress response. It triggers the stress response just like adrenaline hormone that makes our heart pound. When our brains release oxytocin, it is a stress response.
It is motivating us to seek support, and it’s nudging us to tell people we love how we feel, instead of keeping it bottled inside. Our stress response is indirectly telling us that when somebody is struggling, we should be supporting each other.
When life is difficult, our stress response compels us to surround ourselves with the people who care. So, oxytocin is a natural anti-inflammatory, it helps the body to stay relax, and most importantly, oxytocin helps our heart tissue to regenerate from damages, as it also strengthens our heart.
So, all of these physical benefits of oxytocin are enhanced by social contact and social support. So when we reach out to others under stress, our body releases more of these stress hormones, oxytocin, our heart becomes healthier, and we recover faster from stress.
Our stress response has a built-in mechanism, govern by our nervous system, for stress resilient, and that mechanism is human connections (1). As such, our optimal well-being and health are deeply associated with our nervous system. Our physical well-being (spinal alignment) affects our psychological well-being (perception of stress), and hence our physical stress response (Oxytocin release).
Subluxation of the spine – Bing video
As much as we now know that human interactions and connections reduce stress,
the biomechanical and physical well-being of our body allows us to live a better
quality of life (1).
Kelly McGonigal is a health psychologist and lecturer at Stanford University who is
known for her work in the field of “science help” which focuses on translating insights from psychology and neuroscience into practical strategies that support health and well-being. Mainstream media articles about inner-conflict-related aspects of modern lifestyles regularly quote her.
A longtime advocate of self-compassion and mindfulness as stress-coping strategies, McGonigal has altered her focus on the problematic aspects of stress; in a talk at the TEDGlobal 2013, she emphasized the importance of an individual’s subjective belief in themselves as someone who is able to cope successfully as being a crucial factor in their actual response to stress.
Citation:
1) McGonigal, Kelly. “How to make stress your friend” Kelly Mcgonigal:
How to Make Stress Your Friend. TEDTalk, June 2013. Web. 27th May 2018.