Have You got the Guts to be Healthy?

Nutrition
Written By Leanne de Groot
 

You have an army of microbes living inside of you that is essential for fighting off threats, including the virus that causes COVID-19. In your gut, resides a promising symphony of bacteria that automates your immune response against pathogens!

Our gut bacteria can stimulate a powerful immune response against viruses that not only infect the gut but also infect the lungs. Beneficial gut bacteria do this by directing specialised immune cells to produce potent antiviral proteins that eliminate viral infections. A person without a healthy gut that is home to these beneficial bacteria will not respond as well to viruses invading their body.

Many studies demonstrated that nutritional strategies that implicate the use of polyphenols, vitamin D, and ω-3 fatty acids with a focus on gut health, have positive effects on the treatment and prevention of oxidative stress and inflammation in COVID-19. These recommendations are easily applicable to both vulnerable people with pre-existing metabolic comorbidities and to the general population. However, if your Gut health is in trouble, you may not have the necessary gut microbes to make use of the positive effects of these nutrients, specifically biotin, vitamin E, fibre, and magnesium.

Bluntly, we cannot use our nutrients to fight disease or ward it off unless we have healthy guts. So, the ultimate goal is to go public with teachings on how to enhance gut health to evoke a strong immune response – for not just CoVid-19 but all pathogens. While a top-notch Gut Health might not prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection, it can treat the underlying conditions related to its severity.

Quiz: Is My Gut Healthy?

Pop a ‘1’ against the symptoms that apply to you in the below list:

  • I have gas

  • I have discomfort after meals

  • I experience bloating

  • I have diarrhoea

  • I have constipation

  • I have hormonal problems

  • I have difficulty passing stools

  • I have food sensitivities

  • I have an autoimmune disease

  • I am nauseous often

  • I have rashes, eczema, acne or hives

  • I need stimulants (natural or pharmacy) to have a bowel movement

  • I crave sugar or alcohol

  • My tongue has a thick coat

  • I have taken oral birth control

  • I have anxiety or depression

  • I have regular painful joints

  • I have excess weight (fat)

  • My waste size is growing, even though I am exercising

  • I have fatigue or low energy

  • I have sleeping issues

  • I have low sexual desire

  • Experience daily emotional stress

Now add up your tally of “1’s” = Total Score _____

  • Score 1 or 2 = high gut health 🍏

  • Score 3 to 4 = intermediate gut health (moderate dysfunction or imbalance) 🍊

  • Score 5 or more = low gut health (strong dysfunction or imbalance) 🍎

The food you eat obviously plays a role in the health of your gut, but so do a lot of other factors 🌱 🌿 🌲

How, when and the quantity of what you eat, sleep hygiene, hydration, movement, digestive enzyme capacity and our favourite term of 2022 - chronic stress all impart significant influence on the health of our gut.

So, you’ve taken the quiz and established that your gut health needs some work - what next?

Everybody’s body is different, and that’s true for our guts, as well. If you want to learn more about your own body’s ecosystem and its particular needs, you can jump a free, 15-minute breakthrough call, via my “Work With Me” page, to talk through what’s been going on and see if it’s something I can help you with or you can jump right to a, 1-hour consultation if you’re ready to get working right away with personalised insight into what steps to take to optimize your gut health.

 
Leanne de Groot

My contribution is a union of nutrition, mindfulness, meditation, breathwork & movement intertwined with behaviour change and how it impacts a life worth living.

As a health and fitness professional, I want to shift the paradigm toward one of self-love and self-care instead of an aesthetic insecurity-based industry. Let’s move away from the trail of being overweight, body shape dissatisfaction, the daily dose of pharmaceutical and social drugs, persistent envy, unhappiness, anxiety, depression, and a life full of pressure to keep up, skip steps, and rush.

Living without awareness and intention creates pressures that we are not doing, we are not moving fast enough, as bosses, workers, weekend warriors, friends, lovers, parents, siblings, or grandparents. We have to be able and willing to step outside the pull of unhealthy and unhealthful cultural norms and make the critical space to do our meaningful thinking.

The first thing I need people to take in is if they are going to work with me or read my work because for me this re-frames the core of moving through all obstacles we have around stress, rush, health, weight, etc … The very blantant truth is that living under the guise of society’s expectations - is not living.

We have been fed a narrative that stepping outside or away from norms is the wrong way to exist and this narrative furthers unhappiness, unhealthiness, pressure, and a life that is too fast to enjoy.

Wherever we are, this is life—it’s happening right now, and I’ve decided that I am not going to rush through it and I invite you to join me today …

https://www.bodyfuel.org
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