Our guts are hosts to over 100 trillion bacteria! Not all of these bacteria are bad, in fact, most of it is essential to regulating our digestion, energy levels and mood. Our digestive system is better thought of a microbiome, meaning it is home to microbes or bacteria, and these microbes are what break down our food, help us absorb what we need and then get rid of the waste. A healthy gut will contain more ‘good’ bacteria than ‘bad’ bacteria, and encouraging the growth of these ‘good’ bacteria not only helps your digestion and immune system, but also prevents the ‘bad’ bacteria from taking over.
Why might I have an unhealthy gut?
With so much going on in our lives, it can be easy to neglect some of the basics that we should be doing every day. Some obvious things like not drinking enough and eating in a rush are bad for your gut, but all activity in our life affects our gut. Not getting enough sleep and being stressed also has an impact on our ‘2nd brain’ just as the way these make you feel unable to use your actual brain!