The entire digestive tract that runs from your esophagus to your rectum is your gut. Experts say that our second brain is our gut. The nerves and microbes in the gut can launch communication with the brain and affect everything from hunger to mood.
You have a proper balance of good and bad bacteria when your gut is healthy.
Everyone thinks that the signs of an unhealthy gut are obvious. But, we are not going to talk about the obvious symptoms like diarrhea and constipation.
There are another mental, emotional and physical warning signs which signal that your gut is unhealthy.
10 warning signs you have an unhealthy gut
1. Stress, Anxiety, and Depression
The brain and the lining of your intestines are filled with nerves that contain similar tissue. These nerves communicate with your brain. Your intestines release the same feel-good neurotransmitters that make you feel good. When your gut bacteria are in balance, you also feel mentally balanced too.
2. You Get Sick a Lot
You catch every sniffle that goes around the office, but all the vitamin C in the world may not help. Gut Health Project has explained that more than three-quarters of your immune system is found in your gastrointestinal tract.
The balance of bacteria in your gut is a healthy microbiome that produces healthy mucus that traps unwanted viruses, toxins, and bacteria and helps remove them from the body.
The healthy mucus also allows your body to absorb the right minerals and vitamins to help support your immunity.
If your gut is harmful, unhealthy, thick mucus can limit your body’s ability to use nutrients and vitamins properly, leading to what may seem like the constant sickness.
3. Skin Problems
If you have eczema, rosacea, persistent acne, dandruff or flaky, itchy skin, even the most intensive skin care routine may not fix your problem. Believe it or not, your skin problems may be coming from your unhealthy gut.
Skin experts explain how gut health affects inflammation throughout the body, which in turn affects the skin, referring to a gut-brain-skin axis.
4. Stubborn Weight
If you have an unhealthy gut, you may have trouble losing weight no matter what you do.
The good news is that when people who are overweight lose weight, their gut becomes more balanced.
The bad news is that overweight people have a different balance of intestinal bacteria than people who are at a healthy weight.
5. Autoimmune Disease
Many studies link the gut health to autoimmune disease.
On the other hand, experts aren’t sure exactly what causes autoimmune diseases like Crohn’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis, and lupus. But, they do know that autoimmune diseases occur when your immune system attacks its own healthy cells.
6. Acid Reflux
Frequent, an unhealthy gut can often cause unrelenting acid reflux. This is the explanation why nothing seems to help your constant heartburn.
A buildup of unhealthy bacteria in the GI tract and stomach cause acid reflux, bloating, and burping. Normally, acid-reducing medications can help this bacteria thrive. Generally, stomach acid kills the bad bacteria.
If you always neutralize your stomach acid, you actually allow that bad bacteria grow.
7. Yeast Infections
If your system is imbalanced, yeast can grow out of control. The imbalance in the gut can show up as fungal infections of the skin, digestive issues, constant fatigue or even fibromyalgia. This can also cause a condition known as candida.
8. Lack of Energy
You may have an unhealthy gut when you don’t have enough energy even when you’ve had good sleep.
When your gut has an unhealthy balance of bacteria, your body can stop absorbing the nutrients it needs from foods, leaving you tired all the time. Your unhealthy gut can also let in toxins through the intestinal walls, affecting your energy levels.
9. High Cholesterol and Triglycerides
According to LiveScience, your gut microbes may influence your heart health. The digestive tract has 34 microorganisms which can influence the levels of fat in your blood.
Experts are also starting to find links between a higher biodiversity of gut bacteria and HDL, “good” cholesterol.
10. Asthma
The balance of bacteria that you had in your gut around the time of birth may cause you having asthma. According to Dr. Hyman, balancing your gut can help improve asthma symptoms.
How can you build a healthy gut?
You probably want to know what to do about your unhealthy gut. Well, you need to make consistent healthy lifestyle choices, if you want to have a healthy gut. Let’s see the following:
Eat whole, nutrient-rich foods
Provide your body with the nutrients that it needs to operate properly by eating a variety of clean, colorful foods. You should know that chemically processed foods often contain compounds that feed the bad bacteria and cause imbalance.
Eat less sugar
If you eat sugar, you will feed the unhealthy bacteria. Try to eliminate it from your diet to rebalance your intestinal microbiome.
Chew your food
If you want to feed the healthy bacteria and promote healthy digestion, you need to chew your food well enough.
Stay hydrated
Drinking water is important for every bodily function, including maintaining a healthy gut.
Detox
Give your gut a chance to heal and rebalance itself by following a gentle detoxification program. It can eliminate many of the factors that are causing inflammation on a daily basis.
Drink apple cider vinegar
You can add a tablespoon or two of apple cider vinegar into a glass of water and help your digestion to function properly. That’s because cider vinegar can boost the amount of acid in your stomach.
Consume more probiotics
Taking probiotic supplements or eating fermented foods can help restore the balance in your gut. The first place to start is taking a good probiotic, whether you make any of the above changes or not. The quickest way to reboot your system is adding in a probiotic because it will take time to heal your gut.