About our gut:
The human gastro intestinal tract is open to the environment at both ends and is our barrier to the outside environment. You can think of the gut as the strong walls of a fort or a great city, which are necessary to keep invaders out. If these walls are compromised, this can lead to ill health and toxicity.
In order to keep these walls strong and impermeable, nature has placed trillions of microbes within our intestines which act as soldiers which patrol the gut walls and protect them from damage and infiltration. All in all, our gut is the home of around 1.5 to 2kg of microbes. In fact, the role of guarding our gut is so important that nature has posted more then double the amount of microbes in our gut as there are cells within our body!
We live in symbiosis with the microbes within our gut, in-fact, health wouldn’t be possible without them.
There are many different types of microbes within our gut, not just the beneficial ones. Some are pathogenic (disease promoting) and the only thing preventing the disease promoting microbes (such as yeasts, fungi and bacteria) from causing a problem is the health promoting or good microbes (largely composed of bacteria). These good microbes or good bacteria, when in the correct numbers can prevent infection and invasion of the pathogenic bacteria. They do this in many ways; one way is through the secretion of natural anti-bacterial and anti-fungal agents.
The good bugs do a lot more then just simply protect us from the bad bugs. They also manufacture the chemicals which act as a major fuel source for our gut cells. The cells within our gut need to be healthy as they represent a major portion of our immunity (70%), as well as being necessary for the digestion and absorption of nutrients from our foods.
What is dysbiosis?
Dysbiosis is the imbalance of microbial colony resulting in the outgrowth of pathogenic bacteria, parasites or fungus which contributes to disease.
How our diet and lifestyle contributes to dysbiosis:
Many things can contribute to dysbiosis, examples are:
- Taking antibiotics as well as long term use of aspirin or ibuprofen
- Stress and overwork
- Overeating
- Oral contraceptive pill and a wide range of other medications
- A diet full of convenience and nutrient depleted foods for example:
- Sugar, white bread, soft drinks, alcohol & breakfast cereals feed the bad bacteria
- Excess meats can be hard to digest and cause debris to build up within the folds of the bowel, making a nice home for pathogenic bacteria to multiply in
- Dairy foods like milk can be digested poorly within the dysbiotic gut and become toxic to the system
- The low fibre content of all these foods ensures that gut transit time is slow, giving ample opportunity for the bad bugs to proliferate and overtake the beneficial flora.
Signs & Symptoms of gut dysbiosis:
- Bloating, flatulence & belching
- Constipation
- Poor immune function
- Increased asthma & allergies
- Eczema
- Poor digestion
- Fatigue
- Headaches
- PMS & Menopause
How can we fix it?
- Avoid the foods such as sugar, high meat intake, excess dairy, white bread, soft drinks, alcohol)
- Increase fibre- We are not talking about bran flakes! Fibre should be derived from whole unprocessed foods like fresh fruits and non-starchy vegetables, wholemeal breads, rice & pasta as well as beans and lentils. This will keep bowels moving regularly, wash out the bad bacteria and keep the gut cells healthy
- Increase prebiotic foods- Leek, onion, garlic, banana, beans & lentils, Jerusalem artichokes, asparagus
- Probiotic food such as unpasturised sauerkraut and natural, unsweetened acidophilus yogurt
- Purchase a good probiotic supplement
