
The first component of any situation is knowing if there is a problem. First there are seven most common signs to identify if you have an unhealthy gut.
1. Upset Stomach
An upset stomach is things such as bloating, being full of gas, constipation, diarrhea. Mainly the thing you want to concern yourself with the most is difficulty processing and excreting your consumed foods. Healthy guts should not have this issue.
2. A High-Sugar Diet
So what do we know about sugar and bacteria? Well specifically talking about your good gut bacteria, sugar and processed foods is notorious for depleting it. This creates an imbalance of good and bad bacteria. This imbalance can actually increase your sugar cravings, which leads itself to further gut issue.
Also with increased sugar consumption, it increases the bodies inflammation. Inflammation in the body is linked to other diseases, conditions, and disorders.
3. Unintentional Weight Changes
Another symptom or side affect of possibly having an unhealthy gut is losing or gaining weight while not changing your diet or exercise routine. There are obviously different reasons as well, but this is one that can be commonly missed at times. With an imbalanced gut, your ability to absorb nutrients, regulate blood sugar, and store fats can be affected. Also an increase in weight gain can be an insulin resistance creating a sensation to overeat due to lack of nutrient absorption. While a weight decrease can be due to small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO).
4. Constant Fatigue/ Sleep Disturbance
Chronic fatigue can come from having an unhealthy gut as well. Having imbalanced gut can create insomnia as well as poor sleep, which ultimately leads to chronic fatigue. There is a hormone that is produced within your gut called Serotonin. This hormone affects your mood as well as your sleep.
5. Skin Irritation
The most commonly displayed skin irritation from an unhealthy gut is eczema. Not many people realize that our skin is the largest organ of our body. Any issues going on inside the body will ultimately show on the outside. Your skin is a reflection of your gut. So if your gut is unhealthy, if you're suffering from leaky gut (ie proteins leaking through your gut into your blood stream/body) again caused by inflammation of your gut.
6. Autoimmune Conditions
Autoimmune is also a commonly thrown out there today. The bare bone basics of what autoimmune means is that the body is attacking itself. Yes this is as unnatural and unhealthy as you are thinking. A link has been connected from autoimmune to systemic inflammation that is caused inflammation, systemically throughout the body.
7. Food Intolerances
This is not a food allergy, but rather intolerance. This means that you have difficulty digesting the specific foods that you are intolerant to. Some common symptoms to keep an eye out for are bloating, diarrhea, gas, and abdominal pain.
Gut health is such a hot topic in our San Diego chiropractic office that we wanted to share it outside of our walls. As one of the best chiropractors in San Diego, its important to us that our community has access to health care at all times and we strive to do that through our blogs, our office, and our webinars. If you have any questions about your health in the future, please reach out to us as we are here to help serve all of San Diego county be that much healthier.
Dr. Zach Beatty, DC
Gonstead Chiropractor in San Diego
Gonstead Family Chiropractic
858-997-8203