Does Disease Begin with Gut-Health? 3 basics to Prevent Disease.

Dr. Julia St. Clair, ND • Nov 15, 2019

What Is Gut-Health?What Is Gut-Health?

There has been lots of talk about what has become known as "gut-health.” Even the Johns Hopkins Medical Center website mentions it, one of
the most well-respected hospitals and Medical Schools in the United States, there is a good reason for this. Hidden within the walls of
your digestive system is a nervous system layer... what is known as “your second brain” and this “brain in your gut” is changing the way that we look at the links between mood, digestion, health and even the way that you think.

Does ALL Disease Begin with Gut-Health?

The short answer is “NO”. Not all the diseases start in the gut. For an example, it doesn’t apply to the genetic or inherited diseases. But,
there are evidences that lots of chronic and metabolic diseases do. They begin in the gut. We can prevent these diseases by following
some easy steps. And research has shown that a healthy gut microbiome can even help shift the expression of our genes by something called "epigenetics," allowing us to influence the expression of genetic and inherited diseases as well.

Step 1: Understand the Second Brain and Why It Matters

This “little brain” is called the “enteric nervous system” or ENS and it comprises 2 thin layers of over 100 million nerve cells that line your GI tract from your esophagus to your rectum. The role of the ENS is to control every aspect of digestion, from swallowing to releasing the enzymes that help break food down, to the control of blood flow, which aids with both nutrient absorption and elimination. The ENS communicates with our brain with significant results.

When you have an unhealthy gut, the symptoms of that can manifest themselves in other parts of your body, with things such as joint pain, rashes, headaches, brain fog, fatigue, and so much more. It’s your body trying to tell you that something is wrong or out of balance.

Studies have found that increasing your gut-health can lead to improvements in:

  • Immune function – 80% of our immune system is located in our guts
  • Brain function
  • Symptoms of anger, sadness, and depression
  • Obesity
  • Toxin levels in the body
  • Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS)
  • Allergies
  • Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

How does this affect you?

The ENS may sense things that our cerebral brain can’t. Evidence has been found that when the GI tract is irritated it sends signals to the our brain, which can trigger our mood and ultimately affect it. When you consider that between 30%-40% of the population has bowel problems of some kind and that a higher percentage of these individuals develop depression and/or anxiety it’s easy to see how there could be a connection.

One of the ways we can influence this communication, is by altering our gut bacteria. Our bodies are filled with bacteria – good and bad. There are more bacteria in a human body than there are cells and there are an estimated 100 trillion microorganisms living in our bowels alone ( http://www.naturallivingideas.com/ 13-ways-to-improve-gut-health/.) The key here is to have more good than bad bacteria in your gut – the fancy name for the good microorganisms is probiotics.

Probiotics help us do things like:

  • Digest food;
  • Absorb nutrients;
  • Break down medications; and
  • Kill some of the bad bacteria that lead to infection.

Step 2: Get More Probiotics

There are quite a few ways to get probiotics, but one of the easiest is to take a supplement called a probiotic. You will find many different kinds under different brand names and it would be a good idea to talk to your physician or pharmacist to see which is the brand that they recommend.

There are foods that are also loaded in probiotics. These foods include:

  • Unpasteurized Cheese – Gouda, Cheddar, Provolone, and Gruyere are some examples
  • Buttermilk
  • Kefir
  • Kombucha
  • Miso
  • Sauerkraut
  • Apple Cider Vinegar
  • Yogurt – be sure and read the labels on the different yogurts (this can be dairy or non-dairy sources)

Generally speaking, getting more probiotics into your system is one of the best ways that you can improve your gut-health. However, there are always exceptions to this rule, such as if you have SIBO, IBS, etc, in which cases taking probiotics might make your symptoms worse. There might be strains that could address your condition better than others, so by speaking to a licensed professional could get your more bang for your buck when it comes to probiotic supplementation.

More Probiotics, What Else?

The ones we hate. The ones that almost seem impossible sometimes.

Stress Less.
Stress, especially long-term stress, not only affects our gut bacteria, but it also affects the productions of hormones and neurochemicals that communicate with our brain. When it is long-term stress these chemicals and hormones can change permanently (unless you specifically work to change them back). Long-term stress may also lead to gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), stomach ulcers, IBD, IBS, and potentially food
allergies.

Laugh More.
Laughter really is the best medicine. It helps to reduce stress and floods your body with the happy hormones and chemicals that make the good overtake the bad. There was even a study conducted (you can read more about it by clicking the link, h ttps:// www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1954310 2) where researchers studied healthy people as well as those with atopic dermatitis – a
disease that is often associated with imbalances in gut bacteria. The researchers had the participants watch funny movies daily for one week. In only one week, the patients’ gut flora had changed and resembled the healthy participants.

Step 3: Play in The Dirt!

This is true both literally and figuratively.
Gardening is good for you because it gets you outside, gives you exercise, and putting your hands in soil introduces your body to the microorganisms that are found on the plants and in the ground.

In a more figurative way, stop killing all the bacteria. They have recently stopped putting anti-bacterial agents in things because humans are killing all the bacteria, the good and the bad. And what is happening? The bad bacteria are getting stronger and the good bacteria are dying.
Studies have shown that kids who grow up with a dog have both a lower risk of allergies and a healthier immune system. Dogs are associated with a type of house dust that actually exposes us to important strains of bacteria, L. johnsonii is one, which is essential within the digestive tract ( http://www.naturallivingideas.com/13-ways-to-improve-gut-health/. ) Dogs also work somewhat like a probiotic, helping develop healthy bacteria that boost your immune system, stopping you from getting ill, and possibly reducing allergies. Dogs also help you, or in some cases force you, to exercise more and help relieve stress in your life.

Simply stated.

It may well be that a large part of maintaining good health is maintaining good gut-health. There are many ways that you can do this,
including exercise, and learning to listen to your body; however, some of the easiest changes that you can make are to:

  • Get plenty of probiotics – through supplements and food
  • Laugh
  • Manage your stress better
  • Don’t over sterilize or try and kill all bacteria

© 2024 

All Rights Reserved | Simply Refined Health, Dr. Julia St. Clair, ND

Dr. Julia St. Clair is a Naturopathic Doctor running a private practice, Simply Refined Health in  sunny Gilbert, AZ. Her goal is to simplify the process and help you refine your treatment options to what works for you along your healing journey. Dr. St. Clair enjoys cooking, yoga, spending time with her husband, and participating in church activities. She always wants to provide relevant information that you are interested in, so if you want to hear about a certain topic feel free to reach out with your topic or questions!

Does boosting my immune system mean I'll never get sick?

By Dr. Julia St. Clair, ND • 24 Apr, 2020
The thought that if you are a "healthy person" you will never get sick is a myth. In fact, i t’s perfectly normal to get sick every once in a while. This shows that our immune system is functioning the way that it was created to and defending us from unwanted invaders. With the onset of the pandemic, boosting the immune system to fight off the coronavirus has been a massive topic. But I feel like sometimes this topic gets thrown out and sets unspoken expectations that if your immune system is “boosted” that it will keep you from getting sick. And honestly, it’s all a matter of semantics, but I feel the need to clarify in clear words what the goal is for a healthy immune response. My true goal as a licensed physician and Naturopathic Doctor when I say “boosting the immune system” is to help your body correctly and effectively take care of bacteria and viruses (any unwanted microbe) that may enter your system. This does not mean that you will not get sick with the flu, cold, or whatever is going around. This means that your body is able to quickly identify and eliminate the intruder given the body’s natural elimination pathways. This often looks like producing mucus, coughing, healthy fever levels, etc. All the symptoms that people associate with being sick, is your body’s immune system functioning the way it is supposed to. The length of appropriate symptoms varies based on what the body may be fighting off. For example, colds and flus can last from 3 to 7 days. The key is that the body is able to react, recover and heal with support of the immune system and the person returns to normal quite quickly within a matter of days. The goal of optimizing immune system function is avoiding the UNWANTED results of a dysfunctioning immune system. This can be one of two things. The dysfunctional immune system can be underfunctioning or overfunctioning. Underfunctioning - This is where the body has a harder time identifying and overcoming the invader. The infection can then get a stronger hold and create worse symptoms, or take longer to eliminate and drag the symptoms out for a long time. This is often seen as being sick for weeks and having lingering symptoms that just don’t seem to go away, or getting sick frequently as if they keep getting “reinfected.” Many lifestyle, nutrition, medication factors can go into this. Suppression of symptoms and therefore suppression of the immune system reaction can also contribute to this. (That’s a whole other topic for discussion though.) Overfunctioning - Where the immune system finds the intruder and then overreacts, creating worse symptoms than necessary to eliminate it. The most common manifestations of an overactive immune system are things like asthma, autoimmune diseases, and asthma. More short term manifestation can can sometimes be the picture that we see in regards to the acute respiratory distress caused by a cytokine storm in Covid-19 patients. The immune system is overreacting and actually causing unwanted effects in the person. And it must be noted that the imbalance of the immune system can be a combination of both the under reaction and the overreaction. For example, the body can under react to an infection which can then later create an overreaction if the infection gets bad enough. So there is a huge spectrum and so many different ways dysfunction of the immune system can occur. The important thing to be able to recognize when there is dysfunction and how to manage that. When creating a healthy and optimized immune system, the goal is NOT to never get sick. The goal is to have an immune system that responds correctly and effectively toward pathogens, because sometimes... getting sick actually means that the immune system is functioning the way it should. If you are looking for help optimizing your immune system. I am doing telehealth consults for those in the state of Arizona! Feel free to schedule your appointment by clicking the button at the top of your screen. Sources: Reyes-Silveyra J, Mikler AR. Modeling immune response and its effect on infectious disease outbreak dynamics. Theor Biol Med Model. 2016;13:10. Published 2016 Mar 5. doi:10.1186/s12976-016-0033-6 Zhao M. Cytokine storm and immunomodulatory therapy in COVID-19: role of chloroquine and anti-IL-6 monoclonal antibodies [published online ahead of print, 2020 Apr 16]. Int J Antimicrob Agents. 2020;105982. doi:10.1016/j.ijantimicag.2020.105982 D'Elia RV, Harrison K, Oyston PC, Lukaszewski RA, Clark GC. Targeting the "cytokine storm" for therapeutic benefit. Clin Vaccine Immunol. 2013;20(3):319–327. doi:10.1128/CVI.00636-12

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