Healthy Digestion
Your digestive system can keep you healthy or make you sick. Maintaining a healthy digestive system is essential for nutrient absorption and keeping unwanted invaders such as allergens, toxins, and microbes out. It is also essential for preventing chronic disease.
Maintaining healthy digestion is absolutely essential to your health. Many chronic diseases that seem unrelated to your gut stem from unhealthy digestion. Some of these include eczema, anxiety and arthritis. If you have frequent stomach aches, it can signal a serious gut imbalance that may eventually compromise your health.
In our society, it can be difficult to maintain healthy digestion for a number of reasons. Consider all the prepackaged foods that have made making dinner so simple. The truth is, there is very little nutritional content in them and they are high-calorie, highly processed, contain high sugar and very little fiber. And what about the over the counter stomach remedies made readily available to us? Those with the label stomach acid blocker can prevent your stomach from secreting acid which is critical for absorption of your food. Many people reach for Ibuprofen or Advil on a daily basis for relief of aching joints or headaches. They don’t realize that NSAIDS destroy the natural protective lining of their stomach. This may contribute to leaky gut syndrome and small intestinal bacterial overgrowth and lead to autoimmune disease such as irritable bowel syndrome and crohn’s disease. There are numerous other things people innocently do each day that can damage their digestive health.
How do you know if your digestive health is compromised? Frequent symptoms can include constipation, diarrhea, bloating, abdominal pain, acid reflux, anxiety and neurological issues, new food allergies and skin issues.
What other factors cause problems with digestive health? Nutrition and medication are not the only things that can wreak havoc on your gut. Other potential causes include an undiagnosed medical issue such as celiac’s disease, poorly controlled stress, allergies, bacterial infection or even environmental toxins.
As you can see, taking your gut issues seriously can make a big difference in your health over a lifetime.
Your gut plays a crucial role in protecting the overall health and wellness of your body. Few people realize that maintaining a healthy gut isn’t just about proper digestion and nutritional uptake.
A healthy gut is pivotal in the health of your immune system and your brain. Studies show that a balance of beneficial gut microbes in your digestive system actually regulates the entire health of your body. They not only protect you from harmful viruses and bacteria, but also ensure proper communication from brain to gut and vice versa. This is important for proper digestion, regulation of mood and handling stress.
The providers at Functional Medicine Center of Montana want to help you with your digestive health. They will listen to your history and find the cause of your gut problems and outline an effective treatment plan tailored for you.
Take steps to restore your health as quickly as possible before long-term damage occurs. If you are experiencing symptoms suggestive of digestive dysfunction and are looking for answers, schedule an appointment with Functional Medicine Center of Montana today!
Are You Ready to Find Your Optimal Health?!
I look forward to helping you be the change you want to see in your health! If you have any questions you’d like to ask before you are ready to take the first step in your journey to health, I am happy to answer them.
