Gut Health and Anxiety

​Gut Health & ANXIETY
by M de Klerk
“Fire in the gut means fire in the brain.” Or in other words, if your gut is inflamed then your brain will be definitely too.
Infections like SIBO, bacterial dysbiosis, parasites, yeast overgrowth, and H. pylori can be one cause of inflammation. Leaky gut and food sensitivities can also be a source of inflammation.
As you can imagine, having brain inflammation makes us irritable, angry and anti-social. All your calm and happy inducing neurotransmitters are also decreased, leaving you to feel anxious and depressed.
Your Gut Makes Serotonin
About 400 times more serotonin is found in your gut than your brain to be exact. WOW!
So it would appear that your gut may be the main centre of neurotransmitter synthesis and not your brain. Which makes sense why when you heal someone’s gut their mood gets better.
How to Heal Your Gut?
1. Have Lab Testing Completed
Having some labs done for your Gut could be beneficial. Your health care practitioner will be able to guide you here.
2. Removing Stressors
Identify and remove any stressors that could be contributing to poor gut health. Here are two big areas to start with.
3. Unnecessary Medications.
Remove NSAIDs, proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), unnecessary antibiotics, and birth control. Talk with your doctor before discontinuing meds.
4. Life Stressors.
Like we mentioned above, chronic stress can actually change the makeup of your microbiome. It also disrupts the HPA-axis (hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal), which affects pretty much all the hormones in your body.
5. Food stressors
Remove foods from your diet that is know to cause irritation and inflammation in your intestines. Most people are sensitive to wheat, dairy, sugar and soya.
Add Fermented Vegetables and fibre to your diet.
This is a great way to begin getting some beneficial bacteria going in your gut!
Raw, cultured, organic vegetables like pickles, sauerkraut, and other fermented vegetables like beets and carrots can promote the growth of good bacteria in the gut.
In the case of SIBO or yeast overgrowth, we avoid these foods until infection is resolved. Your doctor will be able to guide you here.
Bacteria need food to grow and thrive. Vegetables contain lots of fibre and will promote healthy growth.
Image Source: motherhoodcommunity.com /the-gut-brain-connection