Every year there is a new health fad. A type of diet – maybe the Atkins diet, or Keto, or Paleo, or plant based. Maybe it’s a certain food hailed for its amazing health benefits, such as coconut oil. For a while now, the focus has been on gut health. And it’s all very confusing.
But what is gut health?
Let’s start by saying that the human body is a complex set of systems and none of us operates the same. We are each unique, largely due to our specific DNA or genetic coding.
To simplify the complexity, these systems constantly communicate with each other. They send and receive messages to instruct what we see. They send and receive message to indicate what to feel. They send and receive messages that impact what we think. The messages can be that of hunger or satiety. The messages can be interpreted to feel stressed or excited. Or the messages can be telling us to feel unwell or bouncing with joy.
How does this relate to the gut?
Digestion begins with the mouth. In fact, the process begins with our senses. Our sense of sight and smell can activate the salivary process which is the first indicator to the gut to be switched on and get ready to work. The gut is made of many parts. Essentially, it includes the intestinal tract, the tube that begins at the throat and goes down to the stomach. It also includes the large and small intestines, where our body continues to break down food to extract nourishment and eliminate what is not required.
There are many other process that take places to break down food. When we overeat, or consume inflammatory foods, the mechanics can break down and things can start go wrong.
The gut determines the health of our immune system. We need to manage our immune system to look after our beautiful bodies.
Taking care of our gut doesn’t necessarily mean we need to go out and buy expensive probiotics. Working with your health care professional, such as a GP or Naturopath, can help determine if you require a certain strain of probiotic through specific testing. Again we are all unique and there are many varieties of priobitc available, sadly, many of which will likely do nothing for you.
Taking care of our gut does mean that we should be consuming an abundance of fresh fruit and vegetables and seeds. These fresh foods provide appropriate and healthy fibre, vitamins, minerals and nutrition. These fresh foods are living foods which provide energy through the enzymes.
Taking care of our gut means reducing if not eliminating processed foods, sugars, dairy, soda and gluten. These foods are inflammatory. These foods feed viruses and bacteria in the body that develop into illness and disease.
Choose wisely. Live vibrantly.
Photo by Brookle Lark on Unsplash
