The gut is the body’s second brain. When your gut is unhealthy, it can cause a wide range of health problems that will affect you every day. You might think that digestive problems are the only signs of an unhealthy gut, but you are only partially right.
An unhealthy gut can affect your hormonal health, mood, brain function, skin health, energy, diabetes, depression, and many more. If you have an unhealthy gut, below are some of the symptoms you should watch out keenly.
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Signs of an Unhealthy Gut
1. Digestive problems, such as gas, diarrhoea, and bloating
These are the main signs of an unhealthy gut. All these digestive problems occur when diverse bacteria are living in your stomach, colon, intestines, gut, and digestive enzymes. When the digestive bacteria is not healthy, you will experience diarrhoea, gas, and bloating.
The bacteria living inside your gut can affect your overall health either positively or negatively. When you experience gas, this is a sign of food fermenting in your gut. It only happens when there is inadequate acid or bacteria imbalance to break down all the food.
2. Sugar Cravings
The gut bacteria secrete unique proteins similar to hunger-regulating hormones; ghrelin and leptin. The proteins produced affect our mood and food cravings. Taking a diet high in added sugars and processed foods decreases the good bacteria in your gut.
The unhealthy bacteria will always try to crave food they thrive on and this explains the craving for processed foods and food with added sugars. Bacteria imbalance causes increased sugar cravings, which makes your gut worsen.
3. Bad breath
In most cases, bad breath is caused by odor-inducing microbes that exist between the teeth and gums or on the tongue. It can still be caused by bacteria connected to gum disease. Having insufficient gut flora will make you vulnerable to health conditions linked to bad breath, such as diabetes and kidney infections.
4. Unexplained weight loss or weight gain
Weight gain or weight loss without changing your exercise or diet plans can be a symptom of an unhealthy gut. When your gut is unhealthy, it becomes hard for the body to store fat, take in nutrients, and control blood sugar levels.
If you experience this, maybe you eat too fast making it hard for the body to digest food well or you don’t eat enough food.
5. Depression, anxiety, and moodiness
An unhealthy gut affects the body’s ability to absorb dopamine and serotonin – happy hormones and Vitamin D. dopamine and serotonin hormones are made in your gut, and if you have a leaky gut, your body will lose the dopamine and serotonin it loses.
To sum up, the digestive system not only helps digest food but also balances our emotions.
6. Food sensitivity
Food sensitivity is caused by difficulty in digesting certain foods. Food intolerance is caused by poor quality bacteria in your gut. This makes it hard to digest some foods, leading to unpleasant symptoms, such as diarrhoea, gas, bloating nausea, and abdominal pain.
Some common food intolerances include dairy and gluten, and they are the best to avoid to fix your unhealthy gut.
7. Skin problems (eczema)
One of the common signs of food intolerance is eczema. Inflammation in your gut caused by food allergies or poor diet may cause the gut to leak proteins into the body, causing skin irritation.
Furthermore, the body may mark the food proteins that leak as bad and this explains the allergic reactions when you eat certain foods.
8. Poor quality sleep and constant fatigue
An unhealthy gut leads to sleep problems, such as sleep apnea or insomnia, causing chronic fatigue. Serotonin hormone is produced in the gut – a hormone that affects our sleep and moods. Therefore, if your gut is damaged, your sleep quality will be affected.
How to Fix an Unhealthy Gut
If you have any of the signs above, you must see a doctor or take some crucial steps to fix your unhealthy gut. If your condition is worse, you can visit a gastroenterologist who will diagnose your problem and give the best solution. Here are some of the few tips you can use to fix your unhealthy gut.
1. Ensure you are hydrated
Water is essential for your body to function properly. Staying hydrated helps promote a healthy gut. If you are always dehydrated, your gut decreases the number of healthy bacteria. This will lead to some digestive problems. To ensure you are always hydrated, set alarms on your phone so that you can be reminded when to take water.
It is recommended you take a glass of water after every hour to ensure your body is functioning well. Try avoiding sugary drinks and replace them with water and other drinks that will hydrate your body.
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2. Eat gut-friendly food
Your gut health and diet are related. One of the crucial steps to ensure you have a healthy gut is avoiding sugary foods, processed foods, and foods high in fat. Most processed and sugary foods have sweeteners that make you crave more.
Instead of giving you health benefits, the foods replace the healthy bacteria in your gut with unhealthy bacteria. Try consuming diet-friendly foods such as onion, garlic, fermented food, high fiber foods, and collagen-boasting foods.
Related: 7 Worst Foods that are Ruining your Gut Health
3. Get enough sleep
Sleep is important as it helps the body to heal and relax. Not having quality sleep will have serious impacts on your gut health and other health issues. It is recommended you sleep for 7-8 hours per night. If anything is distracting you from sleeping, try avoiding it.
4. Eat slowly
Eating your food fast makes it hard for your digestive system to break down all the food. Chewing the food thoroughly and eating slowly will enhance better food digestion full nutrients absorption. So, get enough rest to improve your gut health and overall health.
5. Reduce stress levels
Do you know that serotonin – a hormone that affects our mood is produced in the gut. If your mood is not right, your gut will be affected. Besides, high levels of stress impact your emotional, physical, and mental health.
Try some ways that reduce stress, such as walking, meditation, massage, decreasing caffeine intake, yoga, laughing, having a pet, etc.
6. Check for food intolerances
If you experience symptoms, such as bloating, cramping, diarrhoea, nausea, fatigue, gas, rashes and abdominal pain, this can a sign of food intolerances. Food intolerance will occur when the body is not able to digest the food well.
Try eliminating common foods that trigger intolerance to see whether your condition will improve. If you identify some foods that lead to symptoms, try avoiding them to improve your gut health.
7. Take prebiotic or probiotic supplements
Adding these supplements to your diet will be a positive way to improve your gut health. Prebiotic supplements offer food meant to enhance the growth of healthy bacteria in your gut. On the other hand, probiotic supplements are live bacteria that provide essential benefits to the gut.
However, know that not all supplements are good for your health. The best way is to consult your doctor so that you can know when to take the supplements.
8. Monitor your diet
One of the best ways to improve your gut health is reducing the amount of high-fat, sugary, and processed foods. Try eating more lean protein and plant-based foods to improve your gut’s health. Other than monitoring the diet, avoid taking your food late at night because there will be no full digestion and absorption of proteins.
Bottom Line
In a nutshell, what you eat will influence the health of your gut positively or negatively. With a healthy gut, you will have a good immune system, healthy heart, good moods, functional brain, and it will prevent skin problems. So, take the necessary steps to improve your gut and overall health.