Chronic illness can be traced back to your gut health…
When we suffer from digestion issues it is important to be intentional about what we put in our bodies. Stress is the number one cause of many gut issues but nutrition is another leading reason why we have digestion issues. It is important to find the root cause and make small diet changes to reduce symptoms and heal our guts.
Pre/Probiotics
Prebiotics vs probiotics. Probiotics are the good bacteria found in our digestive tract that keeps our guts healthy. Prebiotics are foods that we can eat that feed good gut bacteria (flora). Probiotics can be found in certain foods we eat and supplements they are live bacteria such as in yogurt or raw milk. It is important to have a balance of both pre and probiotics in our diets to maintain healthy gut flora.
Prebiotics are found in certain carbohydrates such as fiber.
Watch for my blog for more in-depth information on gut microflora and how balance can mean the difference between feeling great or suffering from depression or SIBO. Head over to recipes to find some healthy pre and probiotic foods.
Stress-related gut issues
Stress is the leading cause of many digestive issues. Stress can come in many forms, good stress from a vacation and overplanning and traveling, work stress deadlines, worry and anxiety, and stress on your immune system from being overtaxed. When we experience stress our adrenal glands release stress hormones such as cortisol which increases heart rate, blood flow, immune system response, and nervous system response. Our bodies go into fight or flight response like running from danger even if we are just sitting at our desks, the body doesn’t know the difference.
This stress response increases inflammation in our bodies which over a prolonged period can cause chronic inflammation which increases our risk for chronic illness, heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and obesity, and can lead to gut issues like IBS, poor digestion, nervous related symptoms like diarrhea, nausea, lack of appetite and an imbalance of good/bad bacteria in our gut.
Read more on our blog.