Signs that your gut is off
Gut health – one of our favourite topics and an emerging field of science.
Do you have a low mood, brain fog, or feel constantly bloated – All of these issues (plus many more) can be traced backed to one thing… your gut is off!
Your gut is this amazing ecosystem of gut flora that include trillions of microscopic organisms, bacteria, fungi, viruses, and yeasts
Most of these microbes live in your intestines and colon.
The quick fun facts about your microbiome:
- You have 10x the number microbes than human cells
- There are 100 trillion microbes
- The microbes weigh about 2-3 kg
- There are other microbiome sites throughout the human body – skin, mouth, and vagina to name a few
- Our bacteria help digest food, regulate our immune system, fight against bacteria that cause disease, and produce vitamin B12, thiamine and riboflavin, and K (needed for blood coagulation)
- Most of the weight of your poop is bacteria
Your gut garden is as unique as a snowflake, no microbiome is the same.
You’ll hear lots of people say “good” and “bad” bacteria, it’s not quite that simple. If you get rid of the “bad bacteria” then the even worse bacteria start to take over.
It’s more about a ratio between the “good and bad”, there’s no one single strain that will “fix” you. It’s the diversity of the ecosystem. A ratio that leans towards the “bad bacteria” will have you feeling like crap and take away from the quality of life.
You want a vibrant, luscious ecosystem of bacteria where the good work with the bad together in harmony.
Where do you get your gut microbiome?
Lots of research says that it’s pretty much set by the age of the 2-3 and we can only make little changes after that – without a lot of hard work.
Our first experience with bacteria is through the vaginal canal with birth. Children delivered via C-section have higher rates of allergies among a couple of other things. You also get your bacteria from breastfeeding, skin to skin contact, and playing in the dirt.
Your gut ecosystem is critical in setting the tone for your gut health for the rest of your life.
The gut microbiome is emerging as one of the hottest topics looked at by scientists for the connection to almost everything in the body.
A problematic gut leads to all kinds of diseases, serious and less serious.
These include depression, heart disease, diabetes, MS, asthma, autoimmune conditions, and even cancers. It’s hard to find a disease that isn’t related to the gut somehow.
1) Digestive issues like bloating, gas, constipation, and diarrhea
If there are hallmark symptoms to your gut being off, these are it! The diversity and amount of bacteria living in your gut and on your body impact your overall physical and mental health.
Yes, you have bacteria and bugs…everywhere.
You need them and they need you. Don’t be fooled by the manufacturers that try to tell you to kill all the bugs.
The bacteria are called your microbiome and symptoms such as constipation, diarrhea, and gas occur when the balance of your bacteria is not right for you.
Gas is typically a sign that your food is fermenting in your gut which could be from low stomach acid, imbalance of bacteria, or problems with the enzymes needed to break down the food.
A common one is lactose intolerance. You don’t have enough of the lactase enzyme to breakdown the lactose.
The diversity and number of your gut bugs impact your overall physical and mental health Click To Tweet2) Sugar cravings
Have you tried to cut down sugar but always seem to elbow deep the next week in those treats?
It may not be your fault or your “lack of willpower”
These sugar-loving bugs set up shop in your microbiome and they may make you experience even more sugar cravings. Which is a vicious cycle!
These sugar-loving bugs are similar to a gang and they want to continue to thrive and have control.
Our diet is incredibly important with every bite we tell which bacteria to thrive and grow.
The “bad” bacteria are the same way, they enjoy certain types of food – often sugar.
They can increase sugar cravings in a few different ways
- Change your taste receptors – making you prefer sweet flavours
- Release hormones, like serotonin, that make you feel good after eating certain foods. Which makes you feel good after eating them… so you continue to eat them.
- Stimulate the “ Big V ”. This may lead to overeating and the vagus nerve is important for everything digestive and mental health.
- Affect your appetite hormones – making you feel hungry when you shouldn’t be. Add this to a dysbiosis (imbalance between good and bad bacteria) in the gut that causes sleep problems that compound the issue of telling you when you’re full or hungry
To sum it up, the bacteria try to get us to eat foods that they thrive on.
If you eat a high sugar diet, you’ll feed those unhelpful bacteria which secrete those proteins to make you crave more sugars.
Good luck trying to use your willpower to fight that! It’s a freakin vicious cycle
Fixing your gut issues, leaky gut, can crush those bacteria out causing the food cravings in the first place
3) Mental health - anxiety, depression, or moodiness
We have a hidden highway in our bodies that most people don’t know. It’s the highway between our gut and our brains.
It’s called the gut-brain axis and the road is our “Vagus nerve” or Big V
It’s a bidirectional pathway between or gastrointestinal tract and our nervous system, which is critical to our mental health.
There are many reasons our gut is off or we have gut dysbiosis.
They can be micronutrient deficiencies from poor gut function, stress, diet, or toxic overload.
These affect how our neurotransmitters are made and used.
A compromised gut will affect your ability to use serotonin, dopamine, and vitamin D – which is more of a hormone than a vitamin.
About 80% of serotonin and half of the dopamine are made in the gut.
The serotonin made in the gut doesn’t cross our blood-brain-barrier, it will play other important roles.
There’s research piling up that points to a strong relationship between your gut, mood, and even behaviour disorders that include anxiety, depression, and autism.
One very (nerdy and) interesting study found that transferring the poop bacteria of depressed rats to rats that weren’t depressed led to depressed behaviour in the rats without depression (how can you really tell rats to be depressed?).
Gross, I know. But thought-provoking, none the less.
We can look Nature, a large nature research journal, that found friendly bacteria were able to cheer up anxious mice
There’s also evidence mounting that a healthy gut microbiome can help reduce anxiety
A systematic review and meta-analysis looked at the use of probiotics and found that probiotics were associated with a significant reduction in depression – more research is still required
Improving your gut dysbiosis will be critical for supporting your mental health.
Your organs for your digestive system don’t just help you digest food, but they affect your emotions as well.
4) Food sensitivities
If you have food intolerances, it’s almost always a result of “leaky gut”.
We know the gut is the gatekeeper for what gets in and what stays out.
One of the most important functions of our gut is to prevent foreign substances from entering our bodies. This can be with anything that isn’t digested, will pass right through.
It can be through inflammation to kill it, anaphylaxis or a low-grade inflammatory response with every bite we take.
When our intestinal barrier becomes permeable with leaky gut (or intestinal permeability), large protein molecules escape into the bloodstream.
These proteins don’t belong in the bloodstream, only in the gut, your body mounts an immune response and attacks them to get rid of them. This immune response shows up as food intolerances.
Which is a sign that your gut is off.
5) Sleep problems
Sleep problems seem to be a two-way street. Gut problems can cause sleep issues and sleep issues can cause gut problems.
Our sleep and circadian rhythms appear to affect the health and diversity of our microbiome. We’re still at the beginning stages of understanding the complicated, dynamic relationship between these two.
There’s enough research to show that not sleeping enough can quickly harm your microbiome health
In 2016, a study looked at the effect of short-term sleep deprivation on the composition of the human microbiome – though a small study, 9 health, young, and normal weight men. None of them had any sleep disorders.
After only two nights of partial sleep deprivation, scientists found:
- A significant decrease in types of beneficial bacteria
- Changes to the composition of micro-organisms in the microbiome that are linked specifically to obesity and type 2 diabetes
- A significant decrease in insulin sensitivity
6) Skin problems
As we gain more understanding of our gut microbiome, it’s clear that many skin conditions don’t start on the skin level – they stem from the gut.
Here are 11 skin conditions that begin in the gut:
- Eczema
- Rosacea
- Acne vulgaris
- Cystic acne
- Psoriasis
- Dandruff
- Alopecia
- Vitiligo
- Oral mucosal lesions (mouth sores)
If you’ve been struggling with any of these, you may want to check your gut.
If you’re struggling with skin, you may want to stop wasting your money on those expensive creams, lotions, topical treatments, or the new “acne probiotics”
7) Autoimmune conditions and suppressed immune system
The link between leaky gut, autoimmune conditions, and food sensitivities is huge.
We can look at thyroid disease, leaky gut can be from a gluten intolerance – which is WAY too common.
Removing the gluten for these people and working on gut health has made the symptoms management and disease reversal possible for these types of clients.
The evidence is growing that increased intestinal permeability plays a pathogenic role in various autoimmune diseases – celiac and type 1 diabetes for example.
8) Bad Breath or halitosis
Halitosis or chronic bad breath can not only be embarrassing but it can come from odour-inducing microbes in your oral microbiome. It can be also be linked to gum disease.
Your dentist may have not told you but we know that gum disease is linked to other diseases such as heart disease, cancer, erectile dysfunction, and brain illnesses.
Having a less than optimal gut bacteria can make you vulnerable to those conditions
What can you do to improve it?
Cleaning up your diet is the most powerful way to “starve” the bad bacteria and feed the good bacteria.
Each diet should be set to a specific person, so hiring a nutritionist that understands gut health is important. You can work with your doctor to order stool testing to rule out any infections.
You can also take a look at companies such as Viome. They take your stool, analyze it, give you specific recommendations for dietary choices for your bacteria – limiting the guesswork for you.
- Sugar detox – Those “bad bacteria” really love sugar and feed off of it. Excess sugars seem to be a big player in bacterial overgrowths, SIBO and candida. Cut out sugar, low-nutrient carbs, alcohol, dairy, and the always read the labels. There are a lot of hidden sugars in packaged foods labelled as something else. Depending on your ecosystem and the amount of change you make, you may get a “detox” effect with intense cravings or headaches. A lot of your cravings are coming from these bacteria
- Collagen – We like the benefits of bone broth with how easy it is and the cost factor.
- Prebiotics – Prebiotics are the food that the good bacteria feed on. This is typically done with fibre, we like soluble fibre for this. You can get that fibre from vegetables like sweet potatoes, asparagus, artichokes, brussel sprouts, and leeks. Though, this may bloat some of you so add slowly
You may want to look into resistant starches, plantain and green banana flour, cooked potatoes that are reheated, and potato starch. Start slow with this though, it doesn’t agree with everyone.
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Choose a variety of plant foods – Just like a variety of bacteria are good for health, so is a variety of foods. One of the biggest things that we teach our clients is to have a variety of vegetables. Focus on different vegetables, high-quality proteins, and omega-3 fats. One tip for getting a variety of vegetables is to buy something new that you haven’t tried that’s on sale. You don’t need to know how to cook it when you buy it, you can google recipes for it after.
Plus when you buy it on sale, you don’t have the regret of paying full price if you don’t like it. If you like it, go buy more… it’s on sale :p
Turn insight into action
Cleaning up your diet is the most powerful way to “starve” the bad bacteria and feed the good bacteria.
Each diet should be set to a specific person, so hiring a nutritionist that understands gut health is important. You can work with your doctor to order stool testing to rule out any infections.
You can also take a look at companies such as Viome. They take your stool, analyze it, give you specific recommendations for dietary choices for your bacteria – limiting the guesswork for you.
Contact us today if you are having digestive issues and need guidance
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