How Do I Know If My Gut Is Unhealthy?
- Wellness Effect
- Aug 5, 2024
- 4 min read
I speak so much about keeping your gut healthy and one of the questions I get asked a lot is 'how do I know if my gut is unhealthy'? Gut health is key to your overall health and wellness, it affects everything from digestion, hormone production, immune system and even your mood. So, do you have an unhealthy gut? Read on to find out!
Here are some key signs of an unhealthy gut and what they might mean for your health:
1. Digestive Problems
This is one of the most obvious signs of an unhealthy gut is chronic digestive problems. This can look like:
Bloating: FYI - despite people posting regularly on Instagram about how bloating is 'normal', it isn't. Bloating is a feeling of fullness or swelling in the abdomen often caused by gas and/or fluid. It's a common problem today but that doesn't make it normal.
Constipation: Difficulty pooping, often accompanied by hard, dry stools.
Diarrhea: Frequent, loose or watery stools - can lead to dehydration.
Gas: Excessive flatulence can indicate an imbalance of gut bacteria (Shrek needs to do my health coaching programme).
Heartburn or Acid Reflux: A burning sensation in the chest or throat, due to stomach acid moving up the esophagus. This can also indicate that you're not producing enough stomach acid to digest your food properly.
These symptoms suggest your gut is struggling to process and absorb nutrients efficiently.
2. Unintentional Weight Changes
Unexpected weight gain or loss can be a sign of an unhealthy gut. An imbalanced gut can impair your body’s ability to regulate blood sugar, absorb nutrients, and store fat. It can also lead to overeating due to decreased nutrient absorption or undereating from discomfort or loss of appetite.
3. Sleep Disturbances and Fatigue
An unhealthy gut can lead to sleep issues like insomnia or poor sleep quality. The gut produces most of the body’s serotonin, a hormone that affects sleep and mood. Therefore, gut health can directly impact your sleep patterns and energy levels, often leading to chronic fatigue.
4. Food Intolerances
Food intolerances, different from food allergies, are often caused by poor quality of gut bacteria or damaged gut lining. This can lead to difficulty digesting certain foods, causing symptoms like bloating, gas, diarrhea, and abdominal pain. Common intolerances include dairy, gluten, histamine and fermentable carbohydrates (FODMAPs).
5. Skin Problems
Your skin often reflects what’s happening inside your body. Conditions like acne, eczema, and psoriasis can be linked to gut health issues. Inflammation in the gut can lead to increased “leaky gut,” where toxins and bacteria enter the bloodstream, causing skin inflammation. When I healed my gut, my eczema went away - you can read about that here.
6. Autoimmune Conditions
There's growing evidence that a compromised gut can contribute to autoimmune diseases, where the body’s immune system attacks its own tissues. An imbalanced gut can trigger systemic inflammation and impact the normal functioning of the immune system, potentially leading to conditions like rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and inflammatory bowel disease.
7. Mood Issues
The gut-brain connection is a well-established concept. The gut is known as your 'second brain' and it communicates bi-directionally with your brain via the vagus nerve. An unhealthy gut can produce mood swings, anxiety, and depression due to its role in producing neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine. Additionally, gut inflammation can send signals to the brain that affect mood and cognition.
8. Poor Immune Health
If you find yourself catching colds and infections frequently, your gut health might be to blame. A significant portion of the immune system is located in the gut, and an imbalance in gut bacteria and a damaged gut lining can weaken your immune defenses.
How To Improve Gut Health
Do you have any of the symptoms above? It's likely that you will have at least one of them as the modern diet and lifestyle does a lot of damage to our gut health. So, how can you help improve your gut health?
1. Work with a Health Coach
I help my clients improve their gut health by helping them implement the below suggestions, and adding that extra level of accountability and education. This helps deepen their 'why' and helps them to stick to their new lifestyle. You can book a discovery call to find out how I can help you here.
2. Cut Out Ultra-Processed Foods
You can take all the supplements in the world and you won't improve your gut health if you continue to consume ultra-processed foods. They contain chemicals and levels of processing that our bodies haven't encountered before the last 50 or so years. You can find out more about ultra-processed foods and how to avoid them in my Simple Guide to Ultra-Processed Foods.
3. Whole Food Diet
Eat a majority whole food diet, with fibre, fruits, vegetables, protein, healthy fats and whole grains. Avoid UPF, sugar and fats from highly processed seed oils and margarines / fake butters.
4. Probiotics and Prebiotics
Probiotics are beneficial bacteria found in fermented foods like yogurt, kefir, and sauerkraut. Prebiotics, found in foods like garlic, onions, and bananas, feed these good bacteria.
5. Hydration
Drink plenty of water to help with digestion and nutrient absorption but avoid drinking 30 mins before and after meals or you will dilute your stomach acid, making it harder to digest your food.
6. Move Your Body
Exercising regularly can help improve digestion and increase your gut microbes but too much exercise can have a detrimental impact. Strength training 3x a week, regular walking, yoga and Pilates are all great ways to move to improve gut health.
7. Stress Management
Too much cortisol can cause inflammation in the gut. Meditation, breathwork, gratitude journaling and grounding can all reduce stress and help your gut.
8. Sleep
Aiming for 7-8 hours a night of good quality sleep supports overall health, including your gut. Stop eating 3 hours before going to bed, don't keep your phone by your bed and avoid alcohol to help you sleep better.
To conclude, our guts are incredibly important to our overall health. An unhealthy gut can have an impact on many processes in our bodies and it's important to look after it. Making even some of the changes above can help you to improve your gut health. If you want any help, get in touch today!
Very interesting, as always - some really important points and quite simple solutions.