The health of your gut—you might not think about it unless you have a stomach ache, gas, bloating or diarrhea…but it is a huge topic and affects so much of your overall health and fitness.
YOUR SECOND BRAIN
Did you know that the gut is actually known in medicine as the second brain?
There are a lot of things that go on within the gut that affect your sleep, mood, and lots of other bodily functions that you might not naturally attribute to the gut.
For example, there is something called melatonin that helps you sleep, and is also produced in the body by the pineal gland.
There’s actually 400 times more melatonin in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract than there is in the brain!
This is just a single example showing how the gut is very involved with these hormones that affect your mood and sleep.
ACID REFLUX
Gut health is also a common topic for nutrition specialists.
They must be educated on how the GI system works because many complaints they hear are about acid reflux, bloating, constipation, or diarrhea.
There are so many different areas in which people’s GI health negatively affects their physiology.
When it comes to something like acid reflux, for example, we need to find the root of the issue instead of trying to patch the symptoms with a band-aid (antacids, prescription meds, etc.)
A common misconception with acid reflux is thinking you have way too much acid in your stomach, but actually that’s very rarely the case.
You should be asking yourself, “Why is it happening? Why is my body sending acid up my esophagus and bringing pain & discomfort?”
The cause is the reverse of what you would think. It’s not too much acid in the stomach; it’s actually too little acid.
Things like stress, poor sleep, poor immune function, poor dieting, and not knowing what foods you’re sensitive/allergic to, can all decrease something in the stomach that’s known as hydrochloric acid (HCl.)
We need HCl to break down all the protein we eat. Digestion begins in the stomach, moves into the small intestine, then into the large intestine and so on…
When protein arrives in the stomach, it’s drenched with hydrochloric acid, because that’s the only thing that’s going to chop the protein into digestible amino-acid chains.
Stress is a perfect example of something that can lower your HCl…and we all have stress!
If you don’t have enough HCl, the protein putrefies in your stomach.
So it lies there undigested, and bacteria has to jump in and try to break it down.
It’s the bacteria that’s sending the HCl flying up the esophagus.
ANTACIDS & HEAVY METAL
An HCl imbalance can be remedied with proper supplementation and paying attention to your diet.
The problem is, a lot of people will just start popping antacids.
This is okay for a temporary solution, but it’s still not solving the problem.
Besides, a lot of antacids contain aluminum.
It might even be the first ingredient on the label. Since aluminum is a heavy metal, you don’t want to be taking too much.
Also, if you’re ingesting aluminum in addition to a vitamin C source (like vegetables or a multivitamin), the vitamin C enhances the absorption of metals.
This means that even more aluminum would be absorbed in the body, which is not a good thing.
Speaking of aluminum, if you’d like to help your body detox, the following foods will bind to the metals and help flush them out:
- cilantro
- garlic
- wild blueberries
- lemon water
- spirulina
- chlorella
- barley grass juice powder
- Atlantic dulse
- curry
- green tea
- tomatoes
- probiotics
LEAKY GUT
Have you heard of leaky gut syndrome?
Maybe you’ve been diagnosed with this ailment?
Leaky gut is where small holes form within the small intestine when you’re eating too many foods that are not nourishing your body.
You could be unknowingly eating foods you’re sensitive to, and these are causing internal inflammation.
A lot of people don’t know what foods they’re sensitive to unless they have labs done to find out.
They could be sensitive to commonly healthy foods like chicken, broccoli, pork, milk, eggs, whole grains, or fruits.
Over time, when you keep bringing inflammation into the body, it can create the little holes within the small intestine…and the immune system hates it!
During digestion (going back to the protein example), it’s broken down into chains of amino acids in the stomach.
Then once it enters the small intestine, it’s broken up further into very small peptide chains, or single amino acids, which nourish the body.
What happens when somebody has leaky gut is, a full protein molecule goes into the bloodstream, the immune system sees it as an invader, and attacks it.
This creates the inflammation inside the body, which causes bloating, gas and a lot of other issues, both mentally, and also in the gut.
Leaky gut can be fixed, and it doesn’t have to be a long process, depending on how severe the problem is.
Leaky gut can be fixed, and it doesn’t have to be a long process, depending on how severe the problem is.
If you know what foods you’re sensitive to, and you have an action plan to fix the issue, you can find relief in a fairly short period of time.
COMMON BUT NOT NORMAL
Your gut shouldn’t be looking like you’re pregnant after a meal.
You shouldn’t have a ton of gas. You shouldn’t have acid reflux. You shouldn’t be belching like crazy.
These are signs of digestive inefficiencies. They are common issues, but not normal.
The cause should be discovered and remedied so you can have a happy and healthy gut!
Our final recommendation: please always consult with a medical professional to make sure it’s the right thing for you.
