Episode 31 – 8 ways to improve your sixpack, I mean gut health!

 

Everyone wants a six-pack. It looks great and it’s desirable by all.

 

But, what about under the “hood”? Who’d want a healthy gut? What’s the point of that?

 

Why gut health is essential for you.

A healthy gut is essential for optimal bodily function. Without a healthy digestive tract, the body begins to experience all sorts of uncomfortable symptoms that if not treated, may lead to greater health issues later on. Some signs of an unhealthy gut may include:

 

Yuck! Who’d want to experience any of those?!

 

So, how does the state of my gut health influence my bodily function?

They say the gut is the body’s second brain!

 

The gut is where a lot of things are happening. It starts at the mouth, goes through transformative processes in the stomach and small intestine, transitions through the large intestine and ends at the bottom – literally. During this journey the body has to do a few things:

  1. Protect itself from any unwanted foreign materials such as bad bacteria, processed chemicals such as food additives, pesticides, and other unrecognisable foods. It primarily does this through your immunity system.
  2. Use energy (stored in the body) to convert the food into more energy (for use later on)
  3. Produce digestive juices to assist in transforming the food into useful materials
  4. “Push” the food through the digestive tract effectively
  5. Keep your gut micro-organisms happy
  6. Absorb the nutrients efficiently.
  7. And more.

If one or more of these steps are interrupted, then you may experience the above signs and symptoms.

 

What can you do to improve your gut health?

Here are some ways to take care of your gut and maintain a healthy digestive system.

 

1. Drinking warm water upon waking

This small step first thing in the morning will do wonders for you. By drinking a glass of water you are stimulating your gastrointestinal tract to “switch on” and improve your digestion throughout the day. If you need help starting, try lemon water or tea.

 

2. Chewing your food

Chewing your food properly is so important when it comes to digestion. The mouth is where digestion begins and if the food is not chewed properly it will put more energy demands on the rest of the digestive system to process it or worst still, the food wont be digested properly and pass through – wasting energy on ineffective digestion.

 

3. Avoid processed foods

Stick to whole foods. Processed foods are harder to digest and metabolise using excessive amounts of energy to digest it. These processed foods may also interact with your gut bacteria in undesirable ways causing the above-mentioned symptoms.

 

What are five other ways to get a healthy gut ? Check them out down below.

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