No, we’re not talking about the size of your gut. We’re talking about the health of your entire Gastrointestinal System (GI System). All the newest, cutting-edge research in health and wellness points to the health of your GI system as an unbelievably important part of your total health. Poor gut health drastically reduces the health of your immune system as 70% of immune system function is housed in the GI System. Also, many of the body’s most important hormones, such as serotonin, are mostly made within the cells of the GI system, so poor gut health equals poor hormone function. If the hormones are off and the immune system is not working efficiently, how can you truly be healthy? How can you expect to handle the constant bombardment of stressors in your lives if the gut is struggling to stay healthy? The answer is, you can’t!
The immune system keeps us healthy. It doesn’t matter if your stress comes from your work, your family, your injuries, or your training — your body responds exactly the same. So, the only true way to maximize your ability to handle all of these stressors is to make sure that your GI System is healthy and fully functional. The really shocking thing is that symptoms associated with poor gut health are today seen as commonplace and many people just consider them ‘normal’. Some of these include
- bloating
- constipation
- diarrhea
- gas
- acid reflux
- skin rashes
- chronic skin outbreaks
- low energy
- upset stomach
- food intolerances
… just to name a few. We have spent far too long trying to mask or deal with these symptoms, rather than trying to figure out WHY they are occurring.
None of these symptoms are normal and should never be occurring, contrary to popular belief. Most people consider GI symptoms as just a nuisance and something that they can handle, but the truth is these are a signal from your body just like pain is a signal. These signals mean that the system is not performing correctly and something needs to be tuned up or habits need to be changed. You can continue to drive with a flat tire, but doesn’t it seem like a better idea to figure out what caused the flat and then fix it? This should be the same mentality we have with our bodies. If we start paying to attention to symptoms as warning lights for our bodies, we can be proactive in making sure that our health is optimized. On the other hand, if we wait until things drastically decline, we may be putting our overall health in danger and creating a much bigger problem than was necessary. With all the new research coming to light on the importance of the GI System to our overall health, it is smart to start looking at digestive problems with more of a critical eye.
For more information on how you can assess and improve your gut health, contact our office today for your FREE consultation at (949) 387-0060.