What Role Does the Gut Have on Our Overall Health? – Part 1
Roots of Our Commonplace Health Ailments, Illnesses & Chronic Diseases
Gut Health as the Cause of Our Health Conditions
Intro
In this two-part blog, we explore a popular topic: gut health. Part 1 will focus on the history, symptoms, and causes associated with poor gut health. Part 2 will follow and provide tips on what we can do to prevent poor gut health, and what you can expect to see and FEEL if you improve your intestinal bacteria.
If Hippocrates, the Founder of Medicine and one of the greatest physicians of all time, told us that “All Disease Begins in the Gut”, why are we not listening? Why are we choosing foods and lifestyle habits that are destroying our intestinal health and our gut microbiota, rather than opting for those which fertilize and replenish it? What damage are we doing exactly, and how are we doing it? What are the consequences of eating what we eat, of living the way we do? Is it too late, or what can we do to repair the damage?
Optimal health starts in our intestines; our gut. If we have an abundance of healthy, intestinal bacteria, our bodies and minds flourish. Our microbiota, or our gut flora, is the soil that allows our bodies and minds to develop and thrive, as they were built to do. However, we create obstacles, preventing this miraculous health system from working optimally. But what exactly are we doing to prevent our bodies and minds from thriving, as they are designed to?
Can our Food, or “Non-Food”, be the Cause of Such Harsh Health Consequences?
It’s not as if we wake up one day and suddenly have health issues. They brew over time, but we just don’t notice until something gives way and causes us pain, discomfort or illness. We spend years eating foods that have been so altered from their natural state, that our digestive systems don’t actually recognize them as food. They weaken our intestinal walls, creating “Leaky Gut”. The ‘leakier’ or more permeable our microbiome becomes, the more prone our bodies are to illness and disease, as the body becomes increasingly inflamed.
The more permeable our gut, the more nutrient deficient we become. It becomes increasingly difficult for our bodies to absorb essential vitamins and minerals like zinc, magnesium and iron, for example. Alas, we continue to pump these foods, or “non-foods”, into our bodies, because nobody tells us that they could be the root cause of our growing ailments. This “leaky gut” or “intestinal inflammation” can start with a small issue such as a food intolerance or a skin issue, and progress to much more serious immune system or intestinal issues, such as Arthritis, Hypothyroidism, Crohn’s, IBS and many, many more. Let’s not overlook the mind-body connection in this context. Brain health is also seriously affected by our intestinal health, creating such issues depression, Autism, ADHD, and more.
Why is this happening? It’s no surprise that food is one of the key root causes.
What foods are the culprits?
- Trans-fat
- Processed sugar
- Factory raised meats (pumped with corn and antibiotics)
- Refined, processed foods
- Over-pasteurized dairy products
- Overconsumption of alcohol
- Cross-hybridized grains
- Gluten
- GMO foods
And the list goes on. Our bodies simply do not know what to do with these so-called food sources. What happened to the food of our ancestors – the real food? The fermented vegetables, the meat from wild, free-roaming animals and fish, the raw dairy, the sprouted legumes and grains, the sea-vegetables…these are the foods that feed our bodies with the vitamins, minerals, good proteins and fats, complex carbohydrates and live enzymes we need to thrive. Alas, they are few and far between in our modern day “nutritional lifestyles”.