In Depth: Gut Health

 

Have you ever wondered why you aren’t seeing progress, why your energy levels are off, feeling stressed and bloated, why you may be getting sick more? All of these link up to gut health. Inflammation, immunity, hormones, are all a part of gut health and if something is off it could lead to many symptoms that coincide with your doctor telling you to “just rest more” or “lose weight” or “take this medication” (which you may not even need). A few of these symptoms may include: fatigue, high stress, craving sugar, constipation or diarrhea, overactive bladder, chronic UTIs, brain fog, cold extremities, food intolerances, stomach aches, skin irritation, autoimmune diseases such as thyroid diseases, unintentional weight changes, allergies, sleep problems, bloating and gas, I could keep going on with this list. In January, I went through the gut and brain health series of the foods that help reduce inflammation in the body and help to heal your gut. If you need to take a look back at those videos for more in depth information please do so but here is the general list: Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Avocado, Blueberries, 80% of higher Dark Chocolate, Pasture raised Eggs, Grass fed Beef, Dark Leafy Greens, Broccoli, Wild Salmon, and Almonds. All of these foods are high in vitamins and minerals that your body needs to stay healthy. When your gut health is off it could be due to an underlying condition going on in your gut. This could be an overgrowth of bad bacteria, yeast, or parasites causing SIBO, IBS, or Leaky Gut. When your gut health is off this can also lead to vitamin and mineral deficiencies. The good thing is that it can all be fixed! There are tests that doctors can run (but they don’t) including a GI Map (stool sample) that can determine the types of bacteria in your GI system and if it’s overrun with anything I mentioned above, extensive blood tests on all areas of your body including thyroid (there are 6 tests for this alone), kidneys, liver, hormones, as well as a full metabolic panel (this one is the one you get when you get blood drawn for yearly check ups), and food allergen testing (this will change as your gut heals). Many individuals go undiagnosed with gut health issues their whole life and end up feeling like crap (pun intended) and on tons of medication potentially making their gut health worse along with the side effects of the medication. If your doctor does not want to run a functional screening either find a new one or see a functional medicine doctor. Functional screenings are a little different than your yearly blood work because doctors do not run the tests based off of what it means to be in a functional range (prevention) but instead go based off of “oh you have this so now we are going to treat it with pharmaceuticals that you’ll be on for life” aka treating the symptoms and not the cause, even though it could be reversible using functional (preventative medicine). All in all, gut health is one of the most important factors in keeping your body healthy and in homeostasis. If you are experiencing any of the above symptoms check in with your doctor and make sure to advocate for yourself!