Have you heard of the term “gut health” before? If not, you should be aware of it because research is showing that gut health may be linked to many health problems. Problems like obesity, autism, allergies, asthma, autoimmune disease, and mood and behavior problems as well.
In this post, you will find:
- What “gut health” is
- What makes your gut healthy or unhealthy
- How your gut health may be linked to your health problems
This is part one of three on gut health. The following parts dig deeper into the specific links between gut health and our health, and what you can do about it. You can find the links to part two and three at the bottom of this post.
If you prefer to listen to this article instead, I read the article on this episode of my podcast:
What is “Gut Health”?
First, we must define what “gut health” is. When you eat food, it travels down your throat and into your stomach. After it gets broken down a little more in your stomach, the food enters into your small intestine, then your large intestine, and then out your rectum (butt).
Below you can see a picture of what is considered your “gut” (from the stomach down to the rectum). You may also hear it called digestive or gastrointestinal (GI) tract, but that would include everything from your mouth down to your rectum. You might also hear intestines, but that only includes your small and large intestines, not your stomach.
What Makes Your Gut Healthy or Unhealthy?
One of the main things that determine the health of your gut is what’s called your “microbiota.”
‘Micro’ means extremely small and ‘bio’ means life. So, microbiota is ‘extremely small life.’ This is the scientific word used for all the bacteria, yeast, and other living things that reside along the walls of your gut. Your gut microbiota is mainly made up of bacteria, which is why most people refer to it as gut bacteria. You may also hear the terms “flora” or “microbes” instead of gut bacteria.
Before you freak out that there are bacteria in your body, it turns out that your body needs bacteria to survive.
Yes, you heard me right. You need the bacteria and yeast along your gut to stay healthy.
When you think of bacteria, do you think of E.coli, Listeria, Salmonella, or C. diff? Research shows that E. Coli and C. diff can naturally be a part of a healthy person’s microbiota. When the bacteria are in the right balance, they don’t harm us. We get infections when we are exposed to higher levels of these bacteria or pathogenic bacteria (i.e. Salmonella, Listeria).
In the past, we had a big problem with bacterial infections. Thanks (partly) to antibiotics, we are nearly infection-free here in America. However, we continue to use antibiotics, hand sanitizers, and antibacterial cleaners as if infections are still running rampant.
As a consequence, we’re killing off the good bacteria we need to be healthy. If we kill off our good bacteria, who (or what) will fight off the bad bacteria when we do come into contact with it?
If you think you don’t need gut bacteria, I’m afraid that I’m going to have to bust your bubble. Everything you touch has bacteria on it, which means that you’re never going to truly get away from bacteria.
How Your Gut Affects Your Health
We have trillions of gut microbes. Each of our gut microbiotas is unique in types and amounts of microbes. Changes in our microbiota happen when we change our environment or diet.
Since we can never truly get away from these microbes, finding the right balance is key. So, you have two options… You can either work to balance your microbiota (AKA symbiosis), or you can live in a way that throws your microbiota’s balance off (dysbiosis).
When your gut microbiota’s balance is off, your whole body’s balance is thrown off too. You can think of your good gut bacteria as gatekeepers and the walls of your gut as gates. When your gatekeepers aren’t doing their job, all kinds of things are making it into your body.
Your immune system, your mood, digestive system, what food you can break down and absorb, and even your ability to handle stress are all negatively affected when your gatekeepers aren’t working as designed. Research shows that dysbiosis might actually be the main cause of obesity, gluten sensitivities, autoimmune diseases, autism, and even mood and behavior disruptions (to name a few).
On the other hand, when your gut microbiota is in. balance, your gut is able to keep unbroken down foods, toxins, and pathogenic bacteria out of your body. So, if you have an unhealthy gut and work to heal it, you will calm down your immune system, get your digestion back on track, and get rid of those odd mood swings.
Here’s a summary of what we’ve covered so far…
- Gut health is the health of the trillions of microbes (bacteria and yeast) that live in your stomach down to your rectum (butt)
- The balance of these microbes is key to keeping your immune system (among other things) healthy
- When your gut microbes are imbalanced, it can lead to obesity, immune problems, autism, allergies, asthma, and mood and behavior problems
For those of you who want to read up more on this, I read a lot of this information from The Good Gut: Taking Control of Your Weight, Your Mood, and Your Long-term Health
To find out how inflammation is involved with your gut health, check out part two of this series.
To find out how your gut can mess with your brain, check out part three of this series.
>> Now it’s your turn… Have you heard of this before, or is it totally new? If it’s new, are you surprised that a lot of immune problems today might be linked to our gut health? I would love to hear what you think about this topic in the comments below!