Let’s Talk About Gut Health
By Laura Evans, Family Nurse Practitioner, Natural Health Center
Have you had chronic symptoms or health issues and have tried a variety of treatments, but nothing has made a difference? Or perhaps all your tests are coming up “normal,” but you still don’t feel 100 percent and are still looking for help? One of the places that we should look at is the gut!
Gut health = overall health
We used to believe that gut bacteria only were important in bowel movements. However, now we know so much more. The gut microbiome plays a key role in the health of the entire body. The bacteria in the gut helps with synthesizing vitamins, helps with absorption and digestion, helps balance mood, helps protect against infections, and can even decrease anxiety. There is new research that now shows strains of good gut bacteria can correlate with lower rates of obesity and even diabetes!
Good gut bacteria vs bad
If we have an imbalance of good gut bacteria and bad gut bacteria (a condition known as dysbiosis), we can start to create a perfect environment for chronic diseases and health issues to arise. As you can imagine good bacteria is obviously connected to diet, but it can also be altered by stress, illness, trauma, poor sleep, and history or current use of antibiotics. Starting to focus on gut health is important for hormone health, chronic digestive issues, skin disorders, inflammatory conditions and autoimmune disorders.
3 steps to a healthy gut
So, we know this, but what do we do? Here are three places to start:
1. One of the first things that we focus on is our diet and lifestyle.
Eating whole foods and avoiding processed foods and sugars
Making sure that you’re getting plenty of fiber each day (at least 25-30g)
Getting quality sleep for 8 hours
Managing your stress levels (deep breathing, meditation, time in nature)
Getting daily movement
2. Then, there are specialized tests. For example, the Comprehensive Digestive Stool Analysis (CDSA) can be ordered to look at the makeup of the microbiome in your gut, if there are underlying infections, how our digestive enzymes are working, and how our gut lining is functioning.
3. Based on the results of this test, we can treat with herbals, supplements, occasional prescriptive medications and lifestyle changes. Treatment can include:
Specific probiotic strains
Herbal antimicrobials
Digestive enzymes
Immune support herbs
Building up the environment of the gut with prebiotics
Let’s get started on gut health
One of my favorite things is to work on with patients is gut health. I believe it is a building block to our overall health, and if there are chronic issues you’ve had without much response to typical treatment, looking toward the gut and health of the microbiome is critical. Starting to work on gut health is the first step in preventing and treating chronic illness, but it is especially imperative for optimizing health.
Contact Natural Health Center today to schedule an appointment with me, so we can start building a healthier gut and a healthier life!
About Laura Evans, Family Nurse Practitioner
Laura Evans, FNP is an Anchorage family nurse practitioner at Natural Health Center who welcomes patients of all ages. She is passionate about working with patients to find root causes of disease, instead of treating only symptoms. Learn more about Laura or schedule your appointment.
