Are your symptoms a sign of gut imbalance?

I don’t think I know anyone who has fully reached their health goals. Like the old Instagram quote goes, “health is a journey not a destination”. Well, fortunately it’s true. Whether it comes to fighting a cold, losing the last 5 pounds, or making your body, baby-bearing ready, you probably aren’t exactly where you want to be.Most people that I meet with have already done everything they know to resolve their health issues. While there is always significant improvement made with diet change, there are typically a few weird symptoms lingering, and it makes or breaks people. They either make peace with it and give up, or spend the rest of their glorious days reading every health book and webMDing their symptoms in hopes of finding that it’s a normal part of ageing or something.Well let me just take a step back so I can generalise and tell you that your lingering symptoms are not normal. And you know what? They're most likely due to a gut imbalance.Out gut is the chain of digestive organs that process the food we eat, secrete hormones, protect us from foreign pathogens, send signals to the brain and more. It is extremely important and widely recognised as our second brain. In fact about 90% of our serotonin, a main feel-happy and balanced neurotransmitter (that most are deficient in) is created and stored in the gut. So yeah, our digestive organs are quite important.What is Gut imbalance?To put it simply, there are trillions of microorganisms colonised in the gut, that have the full-time job of keeping everything in order and working properly. They help assimilate food and keep foreign invaders away which protects us against bacterial infections. These are often called good bacteria. On the other hand we have bad bacteria. These can be anything from foreign yeasts to parasites and want to do just about the opposite. They create stress and general wear and tear on the body. It is essential to keep our gut full of the good guys and keep those bad bacteria small in their numbers (they will never be fully non-existant). Unfortunately in the western world, especially in the land of big macs and routine antibiotics this is easier said than done.Here are a few of the following gut imbalance symptoms:

• Bad breath (morning breath isn't actually normal.. THANK GOD)
• Yeast infections
• Dandruff
• Warts
• Mental Health Issues!
• Carb cravings
• Body odour
• Digestive issues (colitis, chrons, IBS)
• Skin problems (eczema, acne, psoriasis)
• Hormonal issues
• Infertility
• Lack of energy/ Adrenal Fatigue
• Hypo/Hyperthyroid
• Chronic pain
• Arthritis
• Toe nail fungus
• Hair loss

And why do so many people have an unbalanced gut?

1. We pop antibiotics like candy- They work by killing our good and bad bacteria but unfortunately the good is much more difficult to repopulate which gives room for the bad guys to take over. Antibiotics are tremendously over used. They're even given routinely to industrial farmed cows, and when we eat that meat, or consume this non-organic dairy we get the antibiotics in our system as well.
2. Access to birth control- Well, most people unfortunately are on that little pill that kills all of our good bacteria. And even if you’re not, you’re probably getting it in your water. Santa Barbara waters top two contaminants are birth control pill and steroids.
3. Overconsumption of carbohydrates and sugars- Bad bacteria, parasites and particularly candida albicans feed off refined carbs. Remember the good ol food pyramid with pasta, bread and cereal at the bottom. Well that’s not good for the gut.
4. Fluoride & Chlorine- Both of these substances kill good bacteria and are typically added to drinking water. It’s especially noticeable when you change to filtered water and then try tap. Blah, it tastes like pool water.
5. Plastic everywhere- Plastic is high in oestrogen mimicking substances like BPA which cause stress and disruption in the gut

Is your symptom related to gut imbalance?If you have any of the listed symptoms, even if that is not the exact symptom you’re concerned about, its not far fetched to say there is a relation. Luckily for us, our bodies are designed to heal themselves and with a little love and attention the gut can surely bounce back from years of neglect.If you want to get started in tending to your gut here are a few posts to start with. I’ll continue to share about more specific connections between gut health and hormones shortly! The role probiotics play in the gutHow the gut affects your mental healthCoconut water kefir for gut healthSimple sauerkraut recipe