Of course in this section we could write a whole book just on gut health, thankfully it is the buzz words at the moment. Aristotle was right when he said “all disease begins in the gut” if everything in your gut is balanced you should be at your optimum health as well. There are many, many factors that can contribute to your gut being out of whack, which can make it tricky.
Every body is totally different and different eating patterns affect people differently. Our gut consists of a lining, every time we eat something that doesn’t agree with our gut lining a layer of the lining can be demolished, but as your body is constantly making new cells it has the ability to heal itself. If this keeps happening day after day, meal after meal, eventually your gut lining is going to weaken as the the damage cannot be repaired in time before the next hit of damage.
This in turn, can cause something called leaky gut. As the gut lining has been disrupted so many times it can eventually wear the lining out beyond repair if there is no change of diet. When the gut is leaking, nutrients can escape into the bloodstream. This causes the body to turn on its immune response function as there are foreign bodies where they are not supposed to be.
The immune response sends a variety of immune cells to fight these ‘pathogens’ in the body. In doing this the cells send signals to warn nearby cells of infection that could arise, and signal infected cells to undergo apoptosis (die off). Inflammation is encouraged to increase blood flow which allows more immune cells to reach the area. Whilst this immune response is wonderful for the body to attempt to save itself and get rid of a foreign object that has entered the skin, this is not so good inside the body.
So now your body has called on the immune system to react to the foreign object that has escaped from your gut, and is causing an inflammatory response. If you’ve heard anything about inflammation on the inside you’ll know its not good.
During inflammation, there can be collateral damage to healthy tissue as a result of the toxic products produced by the immune response. In addition, in some cases the immune response can be directed toward your own tissues resulting in autoimmune disease.
You may have heard that blueberries, turmeric, coconut oil, flaxseeds and ginger are all anti-inflammatory foods. Of course this is going to help with your inflammation issues, but it’s not going to fix the problem at hand if you don’t stop eating the foods that are causing your gut to leak in the first place.
In order to keep your gut in good stead a variety of unprocessed, unpackaged, organic foods are key. Taking pre and probiotics is an added bonus, but if you’re eating the way mother nature intended you should be getting it all from a good diet of raw, cooked and fermented foods, produced and grown as locally to you as possible.