Sarah KottmannYour gut is a community of bacteria and parasites working together to keep you healthy, but it is very easy to cause imbalances in the digestive system that then cause health problems throughout the body.
Candida, for example, is found naturally in small amounts cohabiting, but in excess, it causes problems. Around 100 trillion bacteria are located in the digestive system and even more in the mouth. From that are 500 different species, with most of them being from around 30-40 species.
These are all working together to maintain balance, so you can only imagine it wouldn’t be hard to create an imbalance in such a vast community. Many medications like antibiotics can ultimately disturb the bacteria that can take four years to rebuild from just one antibiotic course. Diet and stress are also significant factors in disturbance to gut bacteria.
One of the most common complaints or diagnosis is IBS which is actually “Leaky Gut.”
The second most common is a parasite that has overgrown or developed causing weight gain, bloating and discomfort. Gut health is one of the most essential aspects of health on all levels, but most don’t put enough thought into how important it is. I often have patients tell me it is normal for them to not go to the toilet for three days, or that diarrhoea is something they have had most of their lives. Often, they don’t come in for digestive problems but what does come up from long term digestive problems is skin health, headaches, sinus issues, low immune system, foggy head, vitamin and mineral absorption problems, and autoimmune disease.
When you see me, if I feel any indication your gut health is not functioning at 100%; I will always treat the gut. But more important is the education to keep it healthy.
Nutrition and what you fuel the body with determines the health of your digestive system.
Healthy fresh, and primarily plant-based foods will give you the best gut culture, and of course, fatty saturated food will destroy most of your gut culture and adding a few probiotics to it is just masking the problem. High sugar food will most likely cause an overgrowth of candida.
Step one to better gut health and overall health is to access your diet.
Reduce sugar.
Take away dairy, as often this causes the most problems.
Reduce meat intake and eat more veggies and plant-based foods.
Remove saturated fats and replace them with good fats.
Increase fibre rich food and postbiotic food to help growth of your own good bacteria.
Step two is to heal and bring back the good culture.
Sometimes the best place to start is to get support from someone who can get you onto the right track and moving in the right direction.
Sarah Kottmann
North Lakes Homeopathy
Charlie Lally
Kathy Wise
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