Why Gut Health Matters More Than You Think

Exploring how gut health impacts every aspect of your physical and mental well-being. And better yet, how to make a positive improvements without drastic changes.

Your gut microbiome is made up of trillions of microbes — bacteria, fungi, yeast, and more — primarily in your intestines. These tiny organisms help break down food, absorb nutrients, support immunity, and communicate with your brain. This ecosystem isn’t just about digestion — it plays a role in your whole body.

Transcript

Hello, my name is Tiffany, and welcome to the podcast, Working on Amazing. This is a podcast where we talk about the work that it takes to rebuild an amazing life.

Now, on today's episode, we're gonna be talking about our physical health, and more specifically, our gut health. If you'll remember, at the beginning, I said I focused on five areas when I rebuilt my life.

I focused on my spiritual health, that's really important, my mental health, my physical health, my financial health, and growth goals. And every podcast topic focuses on one of those areas.

So today, I really wanna talk about physical health, because getting in shape and getting on top of your physical health, feeling good, feeling strong, feeling capable is so important.

And when we're tired, and when we're run down, it's hard to live our best life. And so, yes, we've got to work on our emotional health, right? So we are mentally in the place to do the next thing.

I get it. But today, I wanna talk about our gut health, because that affects more than I think we realize. It impacts every aspect of our physical and mental well-being without us even sometimes realizing it.

I've heard a lot about gut health, and it kind of always peaks my interest, because I learned from a pretty young age that I process a lot of my emotions through my gut.

So if I got an argument with somebody, if I had a really stressful event, I could tell it in my stomach. It's like, that's how I process things, and it is not unusual or ironic that I had a child that did the exact same thing.

And I understood when there was a big emotional upheaval in some area of her life, she definitely processed it in her stomach.

And while I don't understand or pretend to know all the things, I have always been intrigued when people talk about your gut health and how important the way our gut is to the rest of our overall well-being.

2:24

Gut Microbiome Functions

You have a microbiome in your gut that's made up of trillions of microbes. It's made up of bacteria, fungi, yeast, and more, and it's primarily in your intestines.

So all these tiny organs help break down the foods you eat, they help absorb nutrients, support immunity, and they communicate with your brain. So this ecosystem isn't just about digestion, it also plays a role in your whole body.

So when we talk about gut health, what all does it actually affect? If I want to improve my gut health, why? What does it matter?

It's in our stomach, we can't even see it. But your intestinal microbiome actually sends signals throughout your entire body. So it, of course, helps with digestion and nutrient absorption, right?

Because it's helping break down that food. What nutrients get absorbed, what nutrients get passed, that's all part of your gut health, okay? Your immune system.

Some people are way more susceptible to getting sick than others. You've probably noticed this in life, right? Well, around 70 to 80% of your immune cells are in or are linked to your gut.

Did you know that? That just blew my mind. So a balanced microbiome helps defend against pathogens.

Your mental health and your mood are tied to your gut. So I understood when I got upset, my gut got upset. You know, like I would have an upset stomach.

I processed it through my stomach. But did you know that it goes the other way? That when your gut isn't balanced, it affects your mood.

Your gut communicates with your brain via something called the gut-brain axis. I don't know about that. I read it, but I do know your gut.

And your brain communicates. And that involves nerves and hormones and neurotransmitters, like serotonin and dopamine. And all of those things affect your mood and your emotions.

The other thing that your gut regulates a lot, which is something that I've become aware of in middle age, is your inflammation regulation. So a healthy gut keeps inflammation down, which may reduce the risk of chronic diseases.

They say that diseases like heart disease or autoimmune issues are often related to inflammation. So if your gut controls some of the inflammation in your body, I always feel like I'm just a little bit inflamed somehow.

I've got a little bit of inflammation going on. How do I reduce that? How do I bring that down a notch?

Because if you stay inflamed chronically, it leads to all kinds of problems. So these things about the gut really, really intrigue me. Your skin health and your hormones are tied to your gut.

Research links the gut bacteria with clear skin and hormone regulation. Your metabolism and chronic conditions are all linked to your gut. Evidence shows that the gut microbiome can influence your weight, diabetes risk, and possibly even allergies.

So research is still being done, but the more we research about the health of our gut, the more we realize how important it is for it to be balanced. But this is the real question we come to.

Okay, so we understand that our gut influences so many things, and it's really important for it to be healthy and balanced.

6:45

Recognizing Gut Imbalance

But the question is, how do you know if it's imbalanced? And that is a good question. And there isn't really a single test for gut health, but there are signs that can hint to an imbalance.

Obviously, I would say go to your doctor if you really feel like you're way out of line.

But if some of these signs ring true to you, it might be something that you could start working on while you're waiting on an appointment to talk to your doctor, okay?

So some indicators that your gut might be out of balance are bloating, gas, constipation or diarrhea. Constipation and diarrhea are, we think of as opposites, but they're caused by the same thing.

Frequent heartburn and indigestion, fatigue and low energy, mood swings, anxiety, foggy thinking, increased colds or infections, because remember, we said so much of our immunity is tied to our gut. All right.

So then, if you feel like, okay, I've got some of those issues, I do deal with bloating or heartburn or fatigue and low energy. What am I supposed to do about that?

8:07

Steps for Gut Improvement

Well, of the mindset, we don't have to be super drastic. And I've talked before about cutting ultra processed foods out of your diet.

I think a lot of the imbalance from what I'm reading and what research is saying, a lot of our gut imbalance comes from ultra processed foods. They've been stripped of the nutrients. So rebalancing your gut is actually really simple steps.

It's nothing drastic. It's nothing over the top. It's not a crazy, radical change.

It's small, simple, consistent steps. So the first step is definitely eating more fiber and more whole foods, right? Because fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, seeds, those all help that beneficial gut bacteria.

They're full of nutrients and minerals and all the things we need. And that's what our gut bacteria is designed to handle. All right?

So that helps that natural gut bacteria flourish when we feed a whole real food. Another thing you could do if you wanted to balance your gut and make it a little bit healthier, is you could introduce probiotic and fermented foods.

So what are those foods? Things like Greek yogurt, kefir, which sometimes you'll see in the produce department or with certain drinks. Sauerkraut, kombucha, kimchi is good, good bacteria for your gut.

Greek yogurt, especially with the live and active cultures, looks specifically for that. Don't be afraid to turn it around and read the label. You don't want a bunch of crazy stuff in there.

A lot of chemicals that you can't pronounce. We were buying yogurt the other day at the grocery store, and I was amazed how some brands have tons of chemicals listed, and some are really, really simple.

But I would look on the label also for that, live and active cultures, because that supports your digestion and the lining in your gut. All right?

What's another thing you can do that's simple, easy way to kind of balance your gut health out, would be, I know you're going to laugh at this one, I laugh at it too, manage stress.

And sometimes that feels impossible to do when our world is falling apart, when it feels like we're starting over, this podcast is dedicated to women who are starting over in the middle of their life. How do you manage stress in the middle of that?

But that's why we're focusing also on our mental health, then our spiritual health, we're focusing on our financial health, so we can take away some of that financial stress, because that's a huge stressor, right?

Actively working on managing your stress is going to help you feel better, even down in your gut, okay? So managing your stress really does affect your gut microbiome.

So practicing things like prayer, journaling, gratitude, affirmations, or even just simple deep breathing techniques can all help manage your stress, all right? The next one, you're going to laugh at me.

It's not exactly like managing your stress, but it's a little similar, and that's get good quality sleep, all right? Poor sleep can disrupt the way your gut works, right?

And when you sleep, your gut kind of goes to work on doing its thing, and when you don't get good quality deep sleep, it throws all the systems in your body off. So lack of sleep can increase inflammation in your gut.

Focusing on ways to get good sleep is imperative. It's imperative for your mental health. It's imperative for your physical health.

It matters. So whether you need to talk to your doctor about a healthy, good sleep aid, whether you need to practice different techniques. I've done a podcast about different things to do to help you sleep.

A lot of people struggle with sleep, and I get that. But focusing on how can I get better sleep is really, really important. It affects so much of your well-being.

So figuring out good sleep habits are really important, and it really goes back down to the way your gut manages inflammation, and it stresses your body out to not get enough sleep. So getting good quality sleep is important.

Another way to improve your gut health is simple move. I mean, just get up daily and walk. We often, the way our society is built in Western culture, we live very sedentary lives.

A lot of us work at a computer desk. We don't move as much as we would have maybe 100, 200 years ago, right? So our bodies move when we move.

So getting up and moving is really important to promote the microbial diversity in your gut, to support digestion. Get up and move. I mean, think about it.

If you're sitting still, how do things, I mean, they move in your stomach, but when you move, you're helping them move. And that's a good thing. Another way to help improve your gut health is really kind of simple.

Stay hydrated. You know, you want some hydration. Water helps with digestion.

I mean, it kind of makes sense. You know, it supports the lining and the intestines. It helps things move better.

You know that. We all probably could drink a little bit more water, right? So stay hydrated.

And the last thing I would say, that is a simple way to help improve your gut health, nothing drastic, but simple, is eat mindfully. What do I mean by that? How many of us have eaten lunch at our desk while we were working?

I'm raising my hand. I totally have done that, right? And I skipped lunch because I was working.

But sometimes, when we go to eat, then we're busy, we're sending an email, we're checking emails, we're doing other tasks, and we're scarfing food down because we're hungry, we know we need to eat. But that doesn't help your digestive system.

And if you're able, just take a moment and say, I'm setting aside this 15 minutes, this 30 minutes just to eat, just to kind of be relaxed while I consume my food.

Because being relaxed while eating helps your body produce those digestive juices that it needs. Slowing down and chewing fully supports good digestion. It's a simple, simple practice.

None of these things are drastic. None of these things are over-the-top, crazy, life-altering suggestions. They're simple, easy things that you can do to fold into your life to support a better balanced gut.

So you have a healthier gut. So as we start to think about it, we can say, you know what? I do feel sluggish.

And what can we do to fix that?

16:30

Detrimental Gut Factors

Now, I want to hit briefly on things that harm your gut, because I think it matters. So there are things we can do that are positive, like eating whole foods, right? We know that that's good for our gut.

On the converse, processed foods and sugar are really, really bad for your gut. So things that are high in sugar and high in all those additives and chemicals can really disrupt the balance in your, the natural balance in your gut.

So that's a big issue. So I think overall, it's just healthier for so many reasons to start cutting back on those ultra processed foods and start finding ways to incorporate natural and whole foods back into our diet.

It doesn't have to be like a light switch, like it's all or nothing. I'm going all organic and eating nothing else. But slowly, what can you swap out?

What do you do? I used to make instant mashed potatoes, and now I make them from scratch. Like just simple swaps here and there.

Okay, I used to do this, but you know what? Now I can make my own salad dressing, or I can do something simple. What is a simple swap for something you might use more often than you realize that is ultra-processed or packed with chemicals?

How can you swap it out for something little? And making small changes, but keeping consistent with them over time is going to make a difference. It doesn't require radical lifestyle change, little changes.

Can I swap something out for honey or maple syrup? That's a healthier sugar than that white sugar we bake with, right? Are there simple swaps that I can make?

Nothing drastic. I'm not about saying, let's just go all in and change everything we eat in our whole diet. No, that's not sustainable.

So make small swaps where you can, and see if you start to notice a difference. All right, so we know that processed foods and sugar can have a negative impact on our gut.

The other big one I really want to talk about, and I want to handle this carefully because it's important, but it's also important to know what it does, and that's antibiotics. So antibiotics are definitely life-saving.

If your doctor prescribes you an antibiotic 100%, please take that. Antibiotics are a great thing, and I'm not against them, but this is what you need to know.

When you do take an antibiotic, it's going to kill both the harmful and the beneficial bacteria in your stomach, right?

So it's going to kill the bacteria that's making you sick, which is good, but the antibiotic doesn't know the difference between harmful bacteria and good, beneficial bacteria.

And in our gut, we have good bacteria growing that helps us digest our food, while antibiotic kills all of it. That doesn't mean you don't take the antibiotic. Yes, the benefits of the antibiotic outweigh the negative effects.

But just so you know, that now your gut bacteria has gone back to zero. You've done a full reset. That's why sometimes when you're on an antibiotic, it can upset your stomach, right?

So research shows that gut bacteria take time to recover after antibiotics, and sometimes it takes months. The microbiome may not return to exactly what it was before. So it's just something to be aware of.

It's not something to avoid. We do not avoid antibiotics. We take them when the doctor prescribes them.

But being aware that now even the good bacteria has been stripped from our gut, what do we do after taking antibiotics to help rebuild our gut bacteria, the positive gut bacteria? Well, we focus on probiotics and fermented foods, like I said before.

So eating that Greek yogurt, or drinking the kombucha, or the kefir, or the kimchi, eating some of those fermented foods, and foods with probiotics, that's going to help rebuild that healthy gut bacteria.

So if you've had to take a round of antibiotics, once you're off of them, really focus on some fermented foods or probiotic foods, eat some yogurt, find a way to kind of help get some of the healthy bacteria go in again, eat plenty of fiber.

And you might even want to talk to your health care provider about taking a probiotic if needed. Sometimes they can prescribe one or recommend an over-the-counter. You can buy them in the supplement section, probiotics.

They might recommend one. But if you're very concerned about it, you can talk to them, your doctor, about it when they prescribe your antibiotic. Well, hey, how is this going to affect my gut?

What do I need to do? And if you've gone through a season where you've been on a lot of antibiotics, this might be something that you need to like, oh, I didn't realize that it's my gut that's kind of off balance now. And that makes sense.

I was on antibiotics. So this is some things I can do. I can take a probiotic.

I can eat more Greek yogurt. I can eat some of these fermented foods that could help rebuild that beneficial bacteria in my gut, all right?

So that's just a simple overview of gut health that I've kind of started looking into, because I do think that even though we don't see our gut, it affects so much of our everyday life. It affects our mood. It affects whether or not we get a cold.

It affects so many things. And I think it's important to talk about and understand and take charge of this section of our lives. This is part of our physical health, and it matters.

Your gut isn't just a digestive tube, which is what I always kind of saw it as, but it's a communication hub that affects your digestion, your immunity, your mood, your hormones, and really so much more.

You don't need drastic changes to make a positive impact. Small, consistent lifestyle shifts can go a really long way. So every bite, every breath, every bedtime choice really matters for your internal ecosystem.

All right, so that, like I said, is just an overview of gut health. I hope you found it interesting. I would love to hear from you.

I would love to know what you think about gut health, or maybe you've learned something different that I didn't share, because I'm not an expert. I just find it fascinating.

If you would like to reach out to me, you can find me online, www.workingonamazing.com. You can also find me on social media.

I have an account on several different sites, but I hang out on Facebook the most, and it's just a business page, Working on Amazing. You can drop me a message, you can chat, we can talk. I would love to hear from you.

Thank you so much for joining me today. I look forward to talking to you next time. Bye.