The gut is called our second brain which is the enteric nervous system (ENS) and a few weeks ago we saw how the PNS and SNS manage our health. ENS consists of sensory and motor neurons as well as interneurons which are ingrained in the wall of our gastrointestinal system starting from the oesophagus right through to the rectum. And since mind and gut are connected via vagus nerve that’s the reason when we are nervous, we get a stomach upset or stomach related symptoms. Many people come to us with Irritable Bowel Syndrome, which is caused due to stress and anxiety wherein patients are put on anti-anxiety pills to control it because there are no specific medications to treat IBS.
Why does our gut get affected so badly? There are several reasons to it and the most basic one is taking antibiotics without probiotics and B vitamins. This kills the good gut bacteria in our stomach as well. Secondly, we have seen most of our anxious clients eating mindlessly under stress; this is because being emotionally stressed feeds bad gut bacteria. Therefore, we crave simple sugars in the form of junk food. Selfmedication is a new fad post pandemic wherein anyone and everyone has started being dependent on paracetamols, pain killers etc which lead to side effects not just on gut but on the entire body. Overdoing on junk food and processed foods (without reading labels), a sedentary lifestyle and lack of sleep are some of the other ways our gut health is affected. So what should we do to maintain and improve it? It's very important to make basic lifestyle changes to your routine in order to keep your gut health in check. Let’s look at a few basic lifestyle changes here:
Rainbow on my plate
Include variety of colourful vegetables in your meals. This adds nourishment, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, digestive enzymes, fibre etc and ultimately improves diversity of the gut microbiome. Eating vegetables first, at the start of your meal, will reduce chronic acidity, bloating, constipation, loose motion etc Plus, this fills you up partially so you end up eating less.
Stop white sugar
Why do we want to put refined products in our body particularly the processed white sugar wherein the bacteria; good or bad thrive on them. If the amount of bad bacteria increases, it may make holes in the intestinal wall allowing toxic particles, as well as food entering into the blood leading to leaky gut; auto immune conditions such as Hashimoto’s, IBD eczema, psoriasis etc. It is better to avoid this and go for natural alternatives like organic jaggery, coconut sugar etc in moderation.
Fruits
People think since fruits are healthy they start having around a kg or more of them throughout the day. But let’s understand one thing. Overdoing even healthy food will create more issues. Excess of fructose from fruits leads to fructose malabsorption and inflammation, high fructose gets converted into uric acid and can increase gout symptoms as well, excess load of fructose can also lead to insulin resistance which further affects metabolism and weight loss.
Fad diets
This is the new ‘in’ thing where people opt for keto meals (high fats) or General Motor diet etc. These fads are not sustainable and have a long time effect on the body which increases several vitamin and mineral deficiencies. Losing weight wrong way by fad diets leads to severe gut issues as well.
Fasting
Everyone should include fasting in their routine at least once a week to give rest to the digestive system which also enhances detoxification. One can be on a water fast or dry fast (without even water) depending on their body’s response. We can drink plain water on IF (inter mittent fasting) days to hydrate the body well but people who drink tea or coffee in a fasting stage should understand that tea or coffee on an empty stomach in an acidic body destroys the lower oesophageal sphincter leading to acid reflux etc. So let’s be mindful.