Gut: Your Second Brain

Your Second Brain 🧠

You have a second brain and it lives where the sun don't shine! Let me paint a prettier picture for you. Imagine your digestive system (from your entrance to your exit) is a beautiful garden! There are gorgeous flowers, trees, bushes, chirping birds and lots of wildlife! You absolutely want to live here and enjoy all the lovely sights and sounds!! 

Then one day a fire breaks out! It terrorizes part of your garden! Some of the birds left and others are scarred! How in the world do you rebuild this part! Just like one rotten apple can spread to others, slowly the garden begins to wilt and smell and there are all sorts of issues you cannot fix at once! This will take years to rebuild. 

That is what happens to our guts and it sends direct signals to your brain -making it depressed, anxious, sad and other unease. It lowers the bodies immune system and cannot rid the toxins that come as we are exposed to viruses and bacteria. It can cause so many other long lasting issues that take years to fix. 

Now you may be thinking... well I poop everyday so i'm sure my gut health is great! That is awesome! So many people struggle with this kind of progress! But we still want to make sure your garden is really blossoming and full of wonderful variety! So let's go over some healthy habits that are full of amazing benefits for people of all stages of gut health. 

If you move bowels every few days or even every week then we really want to work on these! 

1. Water. Yup no doubt. If you are struggling with harder stools and it doesn't flow easily then you need to uptake your water. If you feel you are getting enough, drink more. End of story! 

2. Aloe Vera. Yes like the plant! Aloe is slippery and it has healing properties. We put it on burns and its in so many skin care products! Its so great for that gut lining and it can help move things along really well. Do you get heartburn? Not anymore!

3. Fiber. Take one day and record the amount of fiber you are eating. Look at each item and jot it down to see where you are at. The average person doesn't get what they need. And if they are, sometimes it's not a good balance between insoluble and soluble fiber. 

4. Omega 3 and healthy fats. Flax, chia seed, nuts, fish and avocado are all great for gut health because they can reduce inflammation, improve blood flow to the organs and balance the gut microbiome. 

5. Probiotics. These really work on the gut microbiome and feed the good bacteria so it can flourish! Its like miracle grow for your gut flowers! You can find this in foods like yogurt, kimchi or tempe or you can find a quality supplement. Prebiotics are another source of yummy gut bacteria food. This is also found in many foods including veggies, grains and roots!

So are these doable in your diet so far? Are you already working on these or could you step up your game to make a bigger effort? If you are really in a place where you have got to make some change like you are struggling between using a laxative and an anti-diarrhea then we need to be more aggressive. Remember this will take some time. You have to set an intention on really getting your gut health under control so expect this to be a process.

Finally here are a few quick tips on what to avoid if you can. 

1. Antibiotics. These are necessary when you are working on a bacterial infection but if you can avoid it, do. If you cannot, make sure you are hitting up the probiotics and fiber the whole time. 

2. Artificial sweeteners. These terrorize your gut and can alter hormones as well. Watch all your foods that say low sugar, no sugar etc because they have to sweeten it somehow. 

3. Red Meat, pork and processed meats. (who is crying?) I am so sorry to break it to you but these are chalked full of digestive problems. From the breakdown to the added crap to the processed stuff. And sadly pork and beef can double your risk colon cancer which is one the leading cancers in the world. 

Now go really take a look at your gut and see what you can do to tend to your garden and watch your body, mind, sleep and so much more change and flourish!