We all know that a healthy digestive system is super important, but it can be tough to know where to start when improving your gut health. The entire digestive system covers from esophagus to the bowel is what consists of gut health which is responsible for breaking down food into essential nutrients that help us run our bodies. That means that if anything goes wrong, you may be at risk of diseases. Next time you're eating a meal and suddenly feel like you have the runs, it may be because you're having an early warning sign of leaky gut.

The stomach is where the real action takes place. The first step is to mix food with powerful chemicals in the gut. Bile, hydrochloric acid and digestive juices are essential for this mixing and if there is a shortage of any of these the process is off to a poor start. Regular, soft, bulky and comfortable bowel movement is vital to health. But something is seriously wrong with our society as 4 million American say they are constipated most or all of the time.¹

Constipation is referred to passing stools less than 3 times per week. Proper bowel movement includes concepts of proper transit time and regularity, which are important for healthy bowel movements. However, the longer products of digestion stay in the colon, the more chances that they have decomposed into unhealthy components called stool impurities.

Eating a high fiber diet is important for your digestive system. A high fiber diet helps keep your digestive system healthy and functioning properly. Fibers such as vegetables, fruits and whole grains will help prevent constipation while they also contribute to weight loss. High fiber foods also help treat conditions like diverticulosis, irritable bowel syndrome, hemorrhoids and more.

Source: National Library of Medicine

Tips to heal your digestive system naturally

The best way to counter the effects of a bad diet is by adding probiotics to your routine. Probiotics help preserve a good state of health, promote digestion and maintain proper hydration in the body.

Chances are, our day-to-day routine involves a lot of work and stress. This eventually pressures us to consume more food than necessary. In fact, it is believed that 70% of your diet should consist of high-quality foods that can benefit your body.

It's a known fact that our body needs foods in order to function properly. You also have to have a healthy lifestyle as well, which includes healthy eating habits along with regular exercise in order to prevent muscle wasting and promote weight loss.

Some of the tips to heal your digestive system are listed here as follows:

1.     Eating more fiber- vegetables and fruits, yogurt, probiotics and fermented foods

2.     Exercising for 30 minutes daily. Mild to moderated physical activity

3.     Drinking more water and cutting down on meat

4.     Cutting down sugar and artificial sweeteners. Reducing stress and getting enough sleep

Signs of an unhealthy digestive system

There are these two variables that influence the gut influence namely the gut microbiota and the gut barrier.

Our gut is the gateway through which food, water, and other substances pass into our bodies. The function of the gut is to receive these substances, break them down into smaller molecules, and then either absorb them or eliminate them.

If this breaking down process goes wrong, large molecules can leak from the gut into the blood and cause an immune response. This is called a “leaky gut” and can lead to many health conditions, including autoimmune diseases and allergies.

Too much sugar, trans-fats and processed food can cause your gut to become unhealthy. This creates a leaky gut, allowing undigested food particles to pass from the digestive tract into your bloodstream and causing inflammation in various parts of your body. Left untreated, leaky gut can lead to a wide variety of health issues including autoimmune diseases, cardiovascular disease, cancer, neurological issues and more.

The gut microbiome gets disturbed due to a number of reasons:

1.     Processed and Inflammatory Foods- According to the Standard American Diet, foods such as refined carbohydrates and industrial seed oils are a risk to gut. This particular diet reduces the bacterial diversity in the gut and induces inflammation thereby leading to adverse health effects.

2.     Low Fiber Intake -A diet poor in fiber is likely to cause the gut microbiome to be derived of it and lead to reduced beneficial bacteria.

3.     Stress- It alters the gut and leads to health conditions.

4.     Chronic Infections- Bacterial, fungal and viral infections alter the gut microbiota.

5.     Antibiotics and other medications- Antibiotics, birth control pills, NSAIDs, proton pump inhibitors all alter the gut according to research.²

6.     Abnormal sleep schedule- It is really important to sleep well for the gut to function properly. Disruption in the circadian rhythm causes imbalance in the biome.

How does unhealthy digestive system affect your overall health?

Unhealthy digestive system is characterized by gut bacteria becoming potentially harmful when the ecosystem undergoes abnormal changes. Imbalance in the gut bacteria causes symptoms like bloating, adnominal pain and diarrhea. Many other diseases are linked to an unhealthy digestive system namely inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), obesity, diabetes, heart diseases, liver diseases, HIV, cancers and autism.³

The gut and liver have a close interplay based on the evidence that the gut absorbs beneficial substances produced by the liver, which affect the metabolism of other organs in the body. A high-fat diet may be associated with obesity and insulin resistance, which contribute to type 2 Diabetes T2D.³

The gut-microbiota is an important part of the human body and is considered as a reservoir of harmful microbes. Cancers such as gastrointestinal and prostate cancer are caused due to the presence of microbial pathogens or disorder in the intestinal bacterial community.

The incidence of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is increasing globally. The cause of IBD remains to be unknown but intestinal dysbiosis as a result of inflammation has been proposed to be involved in its development.³ Another type of inflammatory bowel disease is Crohn’s disease (CD).

Summary

Our modern lifestyles are stressful, busy and fast paced. Food is too often processed, bad fats and sugars added to foods, additives in processed foods or fat free hassles on the way to work. When you simplify your diet, you are making it easier to digest food properly and so get more energy out of it.

Digestive system is essential because it provides the energy which is needed to fuel the body and survive. Everyone has an adequate diet but your digestive health is what really counts. The nutrients won’t be absorbed and energy won’t be provided if the digestive system isn’t strong. Consuming food in their natural form and single ingredient foods are easily broken down by the digestive system. Avoiding foods that are high in sugar, refined, added preservatives, emulsifiers, saturated fats and convenience food can ease the load that the digestive system faces when these are taken in.

The health of your gut bacteria is essential for maintaining a healthy metabolism and their role in controlling inflammation and fighting infections. A diet rich in fiber can help boost digestion along with a healthy microbial population.

An epidemiological study has shown that eating yogurt can prevent age-related weight gain.⁴ Dietary probiotic consumption provides good intestinal health by altering gut bacteria. Since digestive system has an important impact on human health and diseases, it should be considered as a center point in preventing and treating chronic diseases.

Food is food and if it doesn’t nourish and support you, it doesn’t matter how much you love it. Our bodies need to feel good, so why would we feed them the empty calories that cause one of the biggest weight gain factors and feel hungry more often?

References:

1.     Khalsa KP, Tierra M. The way of ayurvedic herbs: The most complete guide to natural healing and health with traditional ayurvedic herbalism. Lotus press; 2008.

2.     Gill SR. pop M, Deboy RT, Eckburg pB, Turnbaugh pJ, Samuel BS, Gordon JI, Relman Da, Fraser-Liggett cM, Nelson KE. Metagenomic analysis of the human distal gut microbiome. Science. 2006;312(5778):1355-9.

3.     Zhang YJ, Li S, Gan RY, Zhou T, Xu DP, Li HB. Impacts of gut bacteria on human health and diseases. International journal of molecular sciences. 2015 Apr;16(4):7493-519.

4.     Mozaffarian, D.; Hao, T.; Rimm, E.B.; Willett, W.C.; Hu, F.B. Changes in diet and lifestyle and long-term weight gain in women and men. N. Engl. J. Med. 2011, 364, 2392–2404.

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Disclaimer: This article was written as a guest post for Write Shift RN LLC's blog. The information in it may not be wholly fact-checked or edited, allowing the reader to see the writer's work and skills firsthand. This information is not intended as medical advice. It is for informational and educational purposes only. Always talk to your doctor or other qualified healthcare providers about any questions or concerns you may have regarding medical conditions.