5 Steps to Rebalance Your Gut Microbiome
Did you know that your gut could be called your second brain? As researchers learn more and more about the connections between your brain and your gut, the old saying, “Follow your gut,” becomes more and more true. Your mental health, immune system response, and gut health are all intimately connected. If you’re dealing with symptoms like weight loss resistance, fatigue, poor immune response, and brain fog, you might need to take a closer look at the health of your gut.
Your intestinal tract is full of bacteria. When you have a good balance, you have about 80% beneficial bacteria and about 20% deleterious bacteria held in check by the beneficial bacteria. These levels fluctuate. A diet full of sugar and grain, chemicals, antibiotics, hormones, stress, diabetes, alcohol consumption, chronic illness, and low immune response can all upset a healthy balance.
If your gut is unbalanced, you may experience a poor immune response because about 80% of the health of your immune system is tied to gut health. Emotional trauma also makes an impact on your health. Think of the expressions we use to convey powerful emotions: “A punch in the gut,” “butterflies in your stomach,” “gut wrenching.” These expressions all speak to the truth that we experience emotions in our gut. An upset stomach can be either the cause OR the effect of stress.
In addition to influencing the levels of stress hormones in your body, your gut is also closely tied to hormones that influence your mood and circadian rhythms. Serotonin precursors are manufactured in the gut. If it doesn’t happen in your gut, it won’t happen in your brain.
How do you rebalance your gut?
5 Steps to Rebalance Your Gut
1. Take stock of your symptoms and listen to what your body is telling you.
Symptoms are clues your body gives you. By digging into what your symptoms are, you can uncover the causes and deal with the root of the problem. It’s crazy to address the symptoms without addressing the causes. So what are your symptoms? Chronic pain? Try reducing inflammatory foods such as sugar and dairy. Low energy? Try fueling your body early in the day with healthy fats and protein. Skin issues? Work on rebalancing your gut. Use your symptoms to guide you and make changes to support sleep, nutrition, movement, and hydration. Find ways to moderate your stress. Check for candida overgrowth with a simple spit test: put a glass of water on your nightstand. First thing in the morning, before you take a drink or anything, spit into the glass and let it sit for a few minutes. If it just floats on top of the water, you probably aren’t dealing with a candida overgrowth. If it looks like there are little sticks extending into the water, or it gets cloudy, you may have too much yeast in your body. This little experiment gives you some direction.
2. Add a probiotic or fermented foods daily. Traditional foods that contain beneficial bacteria are sauerkraut, kimchi, yogurt, kefir, some kinds of pickles, miso, and kombucha.
If your fermented product came from a shelf, it may not contain live cultures, so read the labels and look for active cultures. Most active cultures need to be refrigerated. If you don’t think adding fermented food every day is possible for you, because you don’t have access to it or don’t care for the flavor, look for a high-quality probiotic supplement.
3. Drink apple cider vinegar every day to support healthy bacterial growth.
Apple cider vinegar can help keep your pH in its proper range, which aids in digestion, absorption of nutrients, and inhibits the growth of harmful bacteria.
4. Sleep!
When you are asleep your body restores, heals, and processes everything that happened during the day. The fasting that occurs overnight as you sleep allows your gut to heal, rebalance, and rest as well.
5. Add fiber to your diet—color is good!
It is important to feed the good bacteria in your microbiome, and the primary way to do that is to eat plenty of fiber. Eating vegetables in every color will ensure you get enough fiber and give you plenty of vitamins and minerals as well. Sugar and grains feed the harmful bacteria. In fact, if you have a candida overgrowth, you will CRAVE sugar, since that is what feeds it. Choose to feed the beneficial bacteria instead and choose at least two veggies in different colors at every meal.
If you’ve ever been on antibiotics, if you suffer from brain fog and poor immune response, or if you eat a typical American diet high in sugar and processed grains, your gut probably reflects the consequences of those things. Take steps today to nourish a healthy and balanced gut, and begin to address the root causes of your symptoms.