Gut Health 101: Why is Gut Health so Important?

Understanding gut health 

Gut heath has received a lot of attention lately and for good reason! When your digestive system doesn’t work properly, your body will struggle to do everything else…and the difficult part is you may not know it’s struggling until symptoms get really bad.

You may be thinking, “but wait don’t we just break down and use the nutrients from the food we eat?” 

It’s not that simple!...and this is where many people fail to understand the difference between eating and absorbing.

Just because you eat something doesn’t mean you’re gaining the full nutrition from that food.  If your digestion is compromised, you may not be breaking down and utilizing all of the protein you think you’re getting from the egg you at this morning. 

The common saying “you are what you eat” should actually be “you are what you absorb”. Your overall health is a direct reflection of your ability to digest and absorb food well.

There are many organs in the digestive system that can be negatively impacted by many factors in our modern world today and when this happens, everything downstream can be impacted, resulting in poor digestive function which is at the root of all imbalances within the rest of your body.

Now I know the last time I learned about how my body functioned (prior to studying nutrition) was probably middle school when I was more interested in boys and makeup than how my body functioned, so let’s do a recap on the human body so you can get a better understanding of how the digestive system actually works.  Understanding your digestive system is super important to understanding why gut health is so vital to our overall health.

Your digestive system: how it really works

Digestion actually starts before you eat! It starts when you think about and prepare your meal.  The smell and aroma from chopping and cooking, the sight of food cooking and thinking about eating gets your brain anticipating your meal, which stimulates your digestive organs to start preparing for the food you’re going to eat. When meals are eaten out regularly, this initial step is missed!

Chewing starts the first physical stage of digestion. The purpose of chewing is to break down your food into smaller pieces.  A smaller surface area means easier breakdown and absorption of nutrients further on in the digestive tract.  Also, when you chew, saliva is released which contains enzymes (which help to break down food quicker) that mix and break down carbohydrates and lubricate the food as it moves into the stomach.

But this release and mixing doesn’t just happen every time you put food in your mouth. You need to chew! 

When you race through a meal in under 10 minutes, you’ve already compromised this first step in digestion. 

The food isn’t being broken down into small enough pieces resulting in less mixing of food with enzymes.  These larger pieces of food move downward into the intestines and with less surface area, your body won’t be able to extract the full extent of nutrients it would be able to if you’d chewed the mouthful thoroughly. These large pieces of food can also ferment, resulting in gas that you may experience as bloating, burping or farting.

Improve gut health by chewing your food thoroughly

The next step involves the food moving from the mouth down the esophagus into the stomach.  The stomach is the main site for protein digestion where stomach acid and pepsin (a protein enzyme) breaks down protein like beef or lentils into amino acids (the building blocks or protein), which our body needs for digestion, hormones, growth and repair, neurotransmitters, muscle building and energy…but just because you eat protein doesn’t mean the protein is going to be broken down.

If you have low stomach acid, your body will struggle with this step. For example, if you have low stomach acid and ate protein at dinner last night, it may not have broken down as well as it should if you had sufficient stomach acid.  This could lead to you becoming deficient in the amino acids your body needs to make neurotransmitters to calm your anxiety or for hormones needed for a stable mood during your menstrual cycle.

Low stomach acid is unfortunately very prevalent in our modern society.  Chronic stress, a diet high in processed foods, over the counter medications & pain killers (ie.aspirin, ibuprofen), taking antacids, eating too quickly and eating foods you’re sensitive to (which you may not know you have!) can all contribute to reduced levels of stomach acid.

Some of the main symptoms of low stomach acid include bloating, heartburn, feeling heavy after high protein meals, burping after eating, acne and undigested food in stools . Stomach acid also stimulates enzymes to be released further down in the small intestine, so low stomach acid levels can prevent the small intestine from working properly.   

The food then moves onto the small intestine, which mechanically and chemically digests and absorbs nutrients. Digestive enzymes are released to further break down fat, carbohydrates and proteins.  The nutrients absorbed from the small intestine are transported via the blood to the liver, where it processes the nutrients as well as producing bile. 

The liver also detoxifies the blood so if the liver is overloaded with toxins (think alcohol, environmental toxins, processed foods), it becomes harder for the liver to produce bile needed for fat digestion. This is why reducing the toxic load and supporting the liver is a key step in improving digestive health.

Your Digestive System: Functional Organs

The gallbladder and pancreas are also important organs in the digestive system. The gall bladder receives bile from the liver and releases it into the small intestine for fat digestion. If the liver is congested or gallbladder function is impaired, it becomes harder to break down fats. This is important because certain nutrients (Vitamins A, D, E and K) are only obtained through fat (so yes if you don’t have a gallbladder, the likelihood of you being deficient in these vitamins is quite high!). 

The pancreas produces insulin for blood sugar regulation as well as digestive enzymes. When signals aren’t relayed to the pancreas due to things like stress, low stomach acid, and nervous system dysfunction, digestion is negatively affected.

Once the food has finished in the small intestine, it travels to the large intestine which is where trillions of bacteria live. They break down the fiber from your meal, make certain vitamins, produce certain hormones, support healthy immune system function, absorb water as well as produce neurotransmitters, needed to balance your mood.

 It’s super important to ensure you feed the bacteria through a varied diet high in fiber and pre and probiotic foods to maintain an optimal balance of bacteria. When the bad bacteria outnumber the good, you can experience symptoms of dysbiosis, including bloating, gas, cramping, constipation and diarrhea. The food then moves on from the colon to be excreted.

Why gut health matters

So as you can see, there’s a complex system of steps required for good digestion that have the potential to be negatively impacted at every step, which can have detrimental consequences not only on digestion, but any other organ system in your body. 

The body is one interconnected unit and when one part stops working properly, the rest of the body will compensate but at a cost.  A weakened gall bladder can lead to low vitamin D levels and poor immune function; a leaky intestinal tract can lead to brain fog and mood swings, and a dysregulated pancreas can create additional stress on the nervous system, increasing inflammation and resulting in a hormone imbalance and cardiovascular disease.  

This is why it’s so important to start focusing on your gut health right now! The longer you leave these imbalances and impairments, the greater the likelihood of developing health issues or conditions down the road. 

What can you do right now to improve your gut health?

The easiest change you can make is eliminating inflammatory foods including processed foods (cereal, bread, pasta, chips), sugar (pop, sweets, desserts), inflammatory fats (seed oils like canola, sunflower, soy, corn etc.), alcohol, and focus on foods to support gut health including fresh food in its naturally grown state. 

A whole foods, anti-inflammatory diet includes lots of nuts and seeds, vegetables, fruits, whole grains and grass- fed animals and animal products. Whole foods provide fiber and prebiotics that are needed to feed the beneficial bacteria in your digestive tract that in turn keep you healthy! Download a free copy of my anti-inflammatory food list here. 

Eat an anti-inflammatory diet to improve your gut health

Probiotic rich foods can also be beneficial, however if you have an underlying issue like yeast overgrowth, bacterial overgrowth or histamine intolerance, it’s best to focus on prebiotic foods. If you’re not sure about what’s right for you, it’s best to work with a gut health nutritionist who will be able to help you determine if probiotic foods are beneficial for you.

Let’s not forget the importance of eating habits as well though! Chewing food thoroughly, reducing stress especially around meal time, eating slowly and mindfully, eating without distractions and regular exercise all support the mechanical function of the digestive system. These are just as important as what you put in your body. You could eat the perfect diet, but if you’re chronically stressed and eating quickly and on the go, your digestive system still won’t work properly.

It can also be beneficial to work with a practitioner to gain a better understanding of your individual needs and imbalances to develop a long term preventative health strategy.  This is especially important if you experience chronic gut symptoms like bloating, gas, constipation, diarrhea, heartburn and cramping, as there may be an underlying issue that will take more than just cutting out bad foods to fix. 

Sprout Your Health offers comprehensive assessments and gut health testing to determine digestive and intestinal imbalances and offers a holistic, natural approach to help you restore and improve your gut health. 

Click here to book a free discovery call to learn about which program is best to get your gut health back on track!

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🚨 Before You Go!

Want to get started on improving your gut health right now?!  Download a copy of my anti-inflammatory food list-it’s free! You can access it right away by clicking here

By Krista Znebel, Holistic Nutritionist, R.H.N.©

June 14, 2023