Gut Health: A Quick Synopsis On The Importance

Gut health is a huge topic in the health world right now especially amongst functional medicine practitioners and the holistic world. If you’re into health or follow other wellness blogs, chances are you’ve seen more than a couple headlines expressing the importance of gut health. According to Doctor Chris Kresser, “supporting intestinal health and restoring the integrity of the gut barrier will be one of the most important goals of medicine in the 21^st century”.

So WHY exactly is gut health so important? Well, over the past couple decades research has revealed that the health of our gut is directly associated with our overall health, making poor gut health one of the top contributors to a wide range of diseases.

There are 100 trillion microorganisms living in our gut. That means there are ten times more bacterial cells in our body than human cells and the microbiome makes up the greater part of our immune system! This bacteria influences the vast majority of our bodily functions: promoting digestion, immunity, regulating your metabolism, protecting you against infection and more. Therefore when your gut is being destroyed by factors of the modern lifestyle; poor eating habits, processed foods, dietary toxins like wheat, high stress levels, antibiotics and birth control, you begin to see a decrease in overall health.

The scary thing is, symptoms of a struggling gut will not always reveal themselves in an obvious way and often times manifest in other parts of the body. Below is a short list from a very long list of health conditions that have been linked to poor gut health:

Heart Disease
Crohn’s
Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
Diabetes
Constipation/Bloating
Hashimoto’s
Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO)
Obesity & Weight Gain
Anxiety
Depression
Acne
Rheumatoid Arthritis

The good news is there are ways to restore and rebuild your gut flora and in some cases heal and reverse the affects of some of these conditions. Below is a list I’ve compiled from various different resources of steps you can take and foods you can eat to help restore and keep your gut in optimal condition:

Remove all food toxins from your diet (gluten, nitrates, GMOs, pesticides, etc.)
Take a daily probiotics
Make sure you’re getting enough magnesium
Take a collagen supplement (for discount, order at primalgoodsco.com and use code HOLIXTICALDRE)
Drink more bone broth
Cut down on added sugar
Eat more fermented foods like kefir, yogurt, kimchi, kombucha, sauerkraut

There is a whole lot more to be said about gut health. I will dig a little deeper with a couple follow up posts... stay tuned!

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