We are starting to hear a lot more about the importance of gut health and it can be hard to seperate fact from fiction.
So I took the opportunity to hear a leading researcher in the area of health and wellbeing, Dr. Peter Dingle speak about his research on gut health and the importance of a healthy gut microbiome recently while he was on the Gold Coast.
Dr Dingle has found a link between most modern diseases and the state of our gut health through his research, which is presented in three books that he has just released. These cover three complementary aspects of understanding and educating yourself on: how illnesses are connected to your gut, the workings of the gut microbiome and a gut health program to rebuild your gut health.
Through his research and understanding the basic premise of how your body works, it’s clear that we need to focus more on our gut health to improve our overall health and wellbeing. As he confirmed, 80% of your immune system is found in your gut. Another key finding is that with any illness we have a trilogy of: inflammation, acidosis and oxidisation at the core root of the problem that we need to address, which begins in the gut.
It’s important to understand we have a particular ph balance in our digestive organ systems that needs to be maintained for good health. As well, we need a healthy biodiversity of microbiomes in our gut. When this ph and microbiome balance is out and reduced, this creates ‘dysbiosis’ and is when bad bacteria is able to take over and illness begins.
Another fascinating area is better understanding the gut-brain axis. Our 2nd largest nerve in our bodies is the ‘vagus nerve’ which takes 90% of the information from our gut up to our brain (not the other way around!!) and then only 10% from the brain down. This indicates that the many functions controlled by the brain are actually led by our guts!
Think of the many issues in our modern society that we are hearing about (ie: allergies, mental health, food intolerances, diseases, stress etc) that are being scientifically shown to be linked to the health of our gut. If we focus on improving and rebuilding our gut health we can trigger off a chain of responses in our bodies that can begin to heal ourselves and improve our health and wellbeing. Amazing!
I know from my own research and healthy home work that our home and work environments are important elements that have an affect on our gut health. We need to be aware and reduce these environmental stressors on our health to help improve our overall health and wellbeing. These can be from a variety of: allergens, particulates, EMFs, and chemicals present in the spaces we live in each day.
As Dr Dingle pointed out during his talk, we focus on having organic fruit and vegetables to remove our consumption of chemicals like parabens, however we actually have a 50x times greater exposure to parabens in our daily skincare. These are able to directly enter our bloodstream with little filtration and are highly toxic and dangerous to our bodies. A more holistic understanding and awareness is called for to improve our health by removing all channels of exposure from these toxins in our modern world.
Its so important to reduce our toxic exposure to chemicals and allergens in our food, lifestyle and environments. We also need to consider our handling of stress and take time out to create a mental, physical and spiritual break for ourselves. This can come in many forms and you need to explore and find the tools that work best for you and can be applied in the necessary situations in your life. Otherwise, this stress is directly affecting your gut health too.
The first step is awareness. Keep taking those small steps towards better health and wellbeing- its a continual journey.
It’s one thats important to help us enjoy a good quality and fulfilled life in whatever shape that takes for you.
For more information on Dr Dingle and his wife Martine Dingle (who co-wrote these books), their upcoming tour dates and books you can find them here.
If you want to check your home to see where you can reduce your exposure to toxins, we also offer Healthy Home Audits and Workshops to help transition to a more healthy and low-tox lifestyle.
Please contact us for any further information.
