Longford Health: What you need to know about gut health

The health of your gut can affect not only your physical health but also your mental health. Gut health has been linked to anxiety, depression and even dementia.

Did you know that the make up of your gut bacteria may also play a role in determing whether you will be lean or obese?

Bearing this in mind it is vital that we nourish and nurture the bacteria inhabiting our guts.

There are many things that can damage and alter our gut bacteria over the course of our lifetime:

1. Our birth: Research shows that babies delivered naturally have a much wider diversity of friendly gut microbes than c-section babies, mainly due to the exposure they get from different bacteria as they pass through the birth canal.

2. Our food: Our food today has changed dramatically in comparison to our grandparents’ food. We no longer eat seasonally and our food has often been treated with chemicals to preserve and extend shelf life. We consume an array of processed foods and so called fast foods. These are often laden with sugar and hydrogenated fats.

3. Our environment: We have become way too clean, using an array of hand sanitizers and anti bacterial cleansers. Children are spending more time inside playing computer games instead of playing in the dirt missing out on the valuable microbes in the soil.

4. Our medicine: The role of medications such as pain killers, anti inflammatories, antacids , hormone replacements and more widely known antibiotics all help to deplete the friendly bacteria.

5. Emotional stress: Our brain and our gut are in constant communication with each other hence the referral to the gut as the ‘second brain’. When we experience the sensation of ‘butterflies’ in our stomach or maybe nausea before taking an exam or giving a presentation, these are all brain – gut interactions. The brain talks to the gut and the gut talks to the brain!

It is often hard to know what came first, poor gut function or anxiety. We know that when we get anxious our body goes into flight mode, making our mouths dry and our stomach more acidic. This can lead to heartburn, stomach upset and diarrhoea.

However, the gut can be the cause of anxiety as this is the place where our serotonin is made. Serotonin is our feel good hormone helping us to relax and improving our sleep.

Over the years I have put together a plan which is designed to replenish the gut with all the necessary microbes in an easy and enjoyable way. I don’t consider my plan to be a diet, more a way of getting back to nature. Many of my clients will tell me that they are enjoying the real taste of food again while experiencing weight loss, more energy, less pain, better sleep and a regained enthusiasm for life. You can find more at www.healthygutplan.com.

Next week's column: How to improve your sleep.

And a final word from the father of medicine himself, Hippocrates: “Natural forces within us are the true healers of disease.”

Laura Thompson is a qualified Nutritional Therapist, Acupuncturist and Children’s Author with over 25 years of clinical expertise. She has clinics in Longford and Cavan, and is a leading spokesperson on Healthy eating, Nutrition and wellbeing on regional radio and newspapers. For further information go to www.laurathompsonhealth.com.

Read also: The truth about cholesterol