The Importance of Gut Health

I’m sure we all know what organ is responsible for running our bodies and controlling the things that we do: Our Brain. What we don’t realize is that new and upcoming research shows that we have had a SECOND brain running the show all along. You might be surprised to learn that it is our gut! And just like how diet and exercise keep our brain healthy, the importance of gut health is just as important. Here are a few ways to keep your digestive system happy and reasons why it’s so essential to do so.

Probiotics are live bacteria and yeast that are good for us. Growing up we’ve been taught that bacteria is bad. We were told that we should take all precautions to avoid and eradicate them. However, we have billions of them in our gut that we absolutely need! Your gut microbiome is made up of trillions of bacteria, fungi, and other microbes. The gut microbiome plays a very important role in your health by helping control digestion and benefiting your immune system and many other aspects of health. A good way to maintain this is by taking probiotics!

Avoiding Antibiotics

So you’re sick and feel awful, and the first thing you want to do is go to the doctor and get some medicine to make it all go away. Remember the gut microbiome that I mentioned before? Those antibiotics you’re taking will surely kill the bad bacteria that have invaded your body, but they’ll also kill the good! When those good bacteria are responsible for helping us digest fiber, help control our immune system, and contribute to our brain health, it’s not exactly a good idea to take antibiotics recklessly! If you think you can ride it out, please try to do so (safely, of course.) And if you absolutely need to take antibiotics then please try and supplement with probiotics.

There are many ways to keep your gut happy, but these two are some of the best ways to push you in the right direction!

- Sabreen Y.