The Gut is our bodies most underrated organ…

Did you know that your gut is your largest immune organ? 

Your gut can be your best friend or your worst enemy. It has the power to make you look and feel great. It also has the power to make you feel tired, ill, inflamed, sluggish and even depressed. It’s one of the most underrated aspects of body transformation and health…

In this 800 word article my aim is to use a straight forward analogy, likening the gut to a washing machine. No fancy science! Just easy to digest information on one of the bodies most important organs. I’m also going to be sharing some tips and solutions to help keep your gut healthy.

I must ad that i’m no expert in ‘gut health’. This piece has been put together based on my own experience with myself and clients. I’ve also used information from websites and books and I will reference those accordingly throughout.

Why Your gut is like a washing machine…

Imagine your gut is like a washing machine, and you want to keep your clothes clean – in other words keep your gut healthy. If you look after your washing machine (gut) the likely hood is that your clothes will come out looking clean and smelling fresh. If you put the right detergent in the machine, and regularly maintain it, by looking after it, all will work well. On the flip side if you abuse it by placing crappy detergent (food) in it, and overwhelm it with too many clothes (too much food) then some very unpleasant consequences could be install…

A Bad Washing Machine…

If you are constantly run down with colds, viruses and illness, one thing your going to want to do is look into improving your gut health. There are trillions of bacteria living in the gut (1). These bacteria are collectively known as the ‘gut flora’ (2). What we do know is that gut bacteria can greatly affect our health both mentally and physically (3).

If you stick a red sock in a white wash what do you thinks going to happen? It’s going to alter the rest of your whites (likely making them a light red!). Your gut is no different if you overwhelm it with rubbish, or food it doesn’t like it’s going to let you know about it – often in the form of headaches, bloating and feeling lethargic.

Bad foods for the washing machine

Below I have listed some of the most common foods linked to causing problems in the gut. These foods have the potential to cause cramps, diarrhoea, abdominal bloating, heartburn, sore throat, acne, and allergic reactions (4).

• High fat fried food – takeaways and processed food
• Spicy foods – chilli, peppers, curry’s
• Dairy – milk, cheese, yoghurt
• Sugary foods – chocolate, sweets
• Gluten – bread, pasta
• Alcohol – wine, beer, cider, whiskey, vodka
• Wheat – bread, pasta

Good foods for the washing machine

• Almonds
• Asparagus
• Banana’s
• Garlic
• Kiwi
• Leeks
• Legumes
• Mushrooms
• Onions
• Pickles
• fermented vegetables

Tips for keeping a healthy gut: 

1) Don’t put too many clothes in your washing machine – don’t overwhelm the gut with too much food, you know to the point where you feel like your going to burst! it’s not a good idea. Keep meals on the lighter side, trying not to alarm the gut in anyway.

2) Exercise – exercise promotes good digestion and helps effective detoxification. Aim to exercise at least 4x per week. There’s plenty of FREE Workouts on my blog.

3) Probiotics – Support the gut with healthy bacteria. These are the probiotics I use/recommend – pick up probiotics

4) Digestive enzymes – help with the breakdown of food, making the guts life easier. These are the ones I use – click here

5) Seek professional help – if you are failing to diagnose the problem alone it’s time to reach out for more specified help. Research online, visit your local GP or reach out to someone who specifies in the gut. From personal experience I actually find ‘functional medicine practitioners’ to be more successful than traditional medicine. Functional medicine focuses on what’s causing the deeper underlying issue as opposed to prescribing medication without much further investigation.

6) Read this book –  I came across this book last year ‘Gut: The Inside Story of our body’s most under-rated  organ’ – It’s easy to understand and simple enough to digest for those wanting to know a lot more about the gut.

Finally, I came across this great article about Healing the Gut and Working with Food Allergies – if you are looking for a deeper understanding and strategy i’d also highly recommend checking this out.

👱💪 Nick