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Are you curious about the signs of an unhealthy gut? Do you think you might be suffering from gut inflammation, but aren’t sure how to remedy it?

If so, then I’ve written this post just for you.

Let’s explore what the signs of an unhealthy gut are, what the microbiome is, and a few tips for healing gut inflammation that causes problems in our everyday life.

What is the Microbiome?

One of the largest components of your lymphatic tissue sits in the 27 or 28 feet of your digestive tract. It is the mucoid-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT) and gut-associated lymphatic tissue (GALT) and it comprises approximately 70% of your immune tissue. The gut can be thought of as the command center for your immune system.

A healthy gut with a large diverse population of healthy bacteria or microbiome is an important factor in maintaining or achieving optimal health. The beneficial bacteria are sensitive to certain environmental factors that enter the body and can be easily stressed or destroyed.

 A microbiologist that I follow, Kiran Krishnan, has researched mice who have all the appropriate dendrite cells B cells, T cells, which are the defense system for viruses and other microbe invaders. The mice who had a sterile system, meaning no microbiome, were injected with pathogens. The immune system was looking for signals from the microbiome and there were none, so the immune system was not responding. As soon as the mice were injected with a healthy, diverse microbiome, the immune system kicked into action and started attacking the invaders.

The other interesting thing to note is that an unhealthy microbiome causes gut inflammation throughout the body. That inflammation also affects the metabolic system and causes fat cells to enlarge. In other words, it affects weight.

Signs of An Unhealthy Gut

If you’re worried your gut health isn’t quite what it should be, consider the following signs of an unbalanced microbiome.

Regular Upset Stomach

Stomachaches are a tell-tell sign of gut inflammation and issues. If you notice you’re experiencing them regularly, your microbiome could be out of sync.

Fatigue

You feel more exhausted more days than not. This involves more than simply needing a cat nap. It leaves you feeling completely drained and out of it daily.

Skin Irritations

When our guts are inflamed, we’re more likely to experience skin irritations and breakouts. This includes eczema, acne, and even psoriasis.

Weight Gain

I touched on this earlier, but yes, weight gain is a common symptom of an unhealthy gut. Part of this is because bad bacteria can cause us to reach for sugary sweets instead of healthy foods. However, it’s also a response within the body to an out-of-whack system.

Now, how can you make sure your microbiome system stays healthy, along with your lymphatic system? Let’s look at five tips to keep it healthy!

5 Tips to Heal Your Microbiome

1.    Pre & Probiotics, Digestive Enzymes, & Oligosaccharides.

 Ingest high-quality pre-and probiotics, digestive enzymes, and Oligosaccharides. Food that is not properly broken down with enzymes and assimilated can cause a leaky gut and an inflammatory response. Oligosaccharides help to improve the diversity of the microbiome, and they also increase the “keystone” strains that are so important.

2.     Eat a diverse diet by adding new foods to your diet each week.

The diversity of our foods has gradually declined over time. I highly recommend adding new fruits and vegetables into your diet each week, if you can manage. It’s a great way to train your gut bacteria and ensure that gut inflammation isn’t a part of your future.

3.     Eat organic foods as much as possible.

 Foods that are not organic contain Roundup, which acts as an astringent antibiotic and damages the diversity of the microbiome. You don’t want that. You want your food to contain a healthy dose of bacteria because that helps your gut stay healthy!

4.     Avoid personal care products that are filled with toxic chemicals.

Believe it or not, personal care products also contribute to the signs of an unhealthy gut including bad skin. Keep in mind, our skin is the largest organ, and a percentage of everything we apply to it is absorbed into our bodies and affects our microbiome.

5.     Reduce stress as much as possible.

Stressful situations, or even stressful thoughts throughout the day, alter the way your hormones and chemicals act in your body. Those stress hormones can also alter the health of your microbiome. As we discussed earlier, when the bacteria in our gut are shocked, they respond with a stress response and reduce our ability to fight off infections. Keep your gut healthy by reducing stress wherever, and however, you can.

What’s Next?

Now that you’re taking better care of your gut health, the next step is to integrate it with a healthy lymphatic system.

As a certified lymphatic therapist and a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, I understand the connection between gut health and your lymph system.

That’s why I work with companies that produce products that improve your overall gut health and reduce gut inflammation. If you’d like to learn more about how to support the health of your gut, please get in touch with me. I would love to help guide you towards a healthier immune and lymph system.