It feels like everything leads back to gut health, and there’s one good reason why (you’re forgiven for feeling like it’s a hype word). 

Everything does indeed lead from this.

Your gut is pivotal to your health.  It has a magnitude of roles including digestion and absorption, immune health, the emotion centre and of course hormone regulation.

The gut is essentially exposed to the outside world, unlike your heart or liver.  This is why the integrity of the gut is so important, in protecting the body from various 'outside' influences.  It can be easily disrupted not just from day to day life, but also from stress, overuse of medications and toxin exposures amongst other factors.

There are various layers to the gut, all of which play unique roles but the gut barrier relies on homeostasis of the layers to release adequate enzymes, to have healthy bacterial function, adequate mucosal production and integrity, as well as strong immune activity.

This can be impacted by inflammation or trauma and increase intestinal permeability.  The bottom line here is, that we want to do whatever we can to protect the gut, while living our best lives. To do this, it is important to find ways we can decrease inflammation and trauma to really support overall gut integrity.

Symptoms of a compromised gut may look like;

+ diarrhoea, constipation or both

+ bloating

+ fatigue and brain fog

+ vitamin and mineral deficiencies

+ poor concentration

+ headaches

+ skin issues - eczema, psoriasis, acne, rashes

+ joint pain

+ other inflammation ie period pain

If you are looking for how to start to support and repair your gut health, we want to share a few pointers to get you started.  Repairing gut health is a work in progress.  There is no magic bullet but there is an accumulative effect.  What matters most is things you can add to your regime to begin to support you.

1. Start to become curious as to what is contributing to inflammation in your body.  It may be inflammatory foods like sugar or gluten or a high stress lifestyle.  It’s best to do what you can to lower the overwhelm that these factors can cause to allow your body some space.   It may not be for a long period of time, but just enough time to see changes at which point you can start to see flexibility in your body again.
2. Sleep is the elixir of health.  Track sleep patterns (with something like the free 'sleep cycles' app) and always prioritise 8 hours to assist in cellular repair.
3. Moderate intensity exercise is best to support recovery process - weight training 3 x per week, cardio 3 x per week for approx 20-30 minutes
4. Avoid alcohol and other toxins as they increase inflammation, disrupt sleep, increase heart rate and stress response
5. Consider adding fibre as a support to help the good and wanted bacteria to grow, as well as keep the digestive tract moving to aid in waste elimination. The ABSOLUTE mix is your best friend here with the added benefits of guar gum for that extra gut support  and MSM to help address inflammation

Reducing reactivity and flaring of the gut paves the way for recovery and repair.  You can’t skip this step because you can’t flare and repair at the same time.  But with some very simple and safe adjustments you can absolutely begin to lead your gut back to a happier place and with that comes the added benefits of improved digestion, more energy and happier days in general.

Love Nat + Jess

*As always, this is not medical advice. Consult your Doctor. This is sharing wisdom.