Gut Feelings

Not all gut bacteria are created equal, there is “good” gut bacteria and “bad” gut bacteria. With the number of cells reaching more than 100 trillion it’s hard to know which ones are which. “Good” gut bacteria improve digestion, strengthen your immune system, and manufacture the vitamins your body needs. “Bad” gut bacteria can cause digestion nightmares, mental problems, skin conditions as well as a whole host of other problems.

A healthy gut is made by balancing the bacteria, limiting the bad guys and encouraging the good guys to grow. But how do you know if you in balance? Here are 7 things to look for.

1. Digestive Issues such as gas, bloating, heartburn/acid reflux, diarrhea, constipation, and irritable bowel syndrome are all signals of an unbalanced gut.
2. Depression, anxiety, brain fog, OCD, and even Autism could be a result of an unbalanced gut. Scientists have discovered that gut bacteria produce neurotransmitters and people with certain mental disorders also tend to have disturbances to their gut bacteria.
3. A healthy gut plays an important role in helping your body produce and synthesize vitamins and minerals. When gut bacteria are out of whack your body has a hard time getting enough of certain essential vitamins and minerals, such as Vitamins D, K, B12 & B7 as well as magnesium.
4. Antibiotics, when used correctly, are one of the greatest innovations of modern medicine, but in addition to wiping out bad bacteria, they also wipe out good bacteria that are essential to your health.
5. Stress can wear you down, make you anxious, and increase your blood pressure, and it can also wreak havoc on your gut. Stress is inevitable, but unmanaged stress raises cortisol levels, which can stop the gut from working properly.
6. Many skin conditions aren’t necessarily from a problem with the skin, but rather an unhealthy gut. An unbalanced gut can be the cause of acne, rosacea, psoriasis and eczema.
7. Research is emerging linking autoimmune diseases, the body literally attacking itself, to unhealthy guts. From Hashimoto’s to Rheumatoid Arthritis, an unhealthy gut could be the culprit.

The digestive system is really the cornerstone of our wellbeing and when it is in order we feel great. With a bit of planning and time it is possible to restore your gut to optimal health. One way to do this is to adopt a new approach to the foods we consume, and this can be done by starting with the “Four Rs” – remove, repair, restore, and replace.

1. Remove – remove the offending foods and toxins from your diet that could be acting as stressors on your system, things such as caffeine, alcohol, processed foods, bad fats, and any other foods you think may be causing issues, like gluten or dairy. All of these irritate the gut in some form and create an inflammatory response.
2. Repair – heal the damaged intestinal lining by consuming an unprocessed diet and giving your body time to rest by providing it with substances that are known to heal the gut, like L-glutamine, omega-3 fatty acids, zinc, antioxidants, quercetin, aloe vera, and turmeric.
3. Restore – restoring your gut’s optimal bacterial flora population. This is done with the introduction of probiotics, which are good bacteria that helps reinforce and maintain a healthy gut and helps fight illness. A healthy gastrointestinal tract should contain around 85% good bacteria. This helps to combat any overgrowth of bad bacteria. Unfortunately, in most people these percentages are skewed and this allows for the gut health to drastically decline. The human gut is home to bad bacteria like salmonella and clostridium, which is fine as long as they are kept in order and don’t get out of control.
4. Replace – this involved getting your bile salts, digestive enzymes, and hydrochloric acid levels to optimal levels to maintain and promote healthy digestion. This can be done by supplementing with digestive enzymes and organic salt to help make sure you have enough hydrochloric acid.

In the end, trust your gut. If something is wrong, your gut very well may be trying to let you know.

Bullets

• Preventing breast cancer recurrences in women with ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) does not lower their 10-year risk for death from breast cancer, a JAMA Oncology study finds. Researchers examined U.S. registry data on roughly 108,000 women with newly diagnosed DCIS before age 70. Twenty years after diagnosis, 3.3 percent of the women had died from breast cancer (a rate 1.8 times higher than that in the general U.S. population of women). jwatch.org

• All of the 10 most expensive paid search keywords are related to mesothelioma, a cancerous tumor that is at the center of many asbestos-related lawsuits, according to a recent report from Adgooroo. marketingprofs.com

• Consumers of both sexes are spending on wellness. As of 2013, the wellness industry, encapsulating spas, yoga and complementary therapies, is worth $3.4 trillion and growing, according to SRI International. jwttomorrowacope.com

• Millennials are drinking less than older generations and embracing healthy lifestyles and fitness. beautyandwellbeing.com

• The World Health Organization estimates that by 2050, people aged 65 and over will outnumber children aged 14 and under for the first time.  jwtintelligence.com