The Gut Brain Connection

brain

Digestive health is so important for health!

Do you feel butterflies in the pit of their stomach when you are stressed or anxious?

This reaction shows there is a complex interaction between your gut and brain, with the gut being referred to as our “second brain”. The gut is full of nerves and neurotransmitter receptors from the enteric nervous system (part of the autonomic nervous system which performs unconscious function, like your heart beating) that is wired directly to the brain. The gut cells produce most of our serotonin, the “happy” neurotransmitter, so not only do we need to look at ingesting enough of the nutrients required for serotonin production, we need to ensure our gut health is in balance to be able to utilise it! Continue reading “The Gut Brain Connection”

How to Treat a Sick Gut – A Case Study

HOW HEALTHY IS YOUR GUT? Picture1

 Find out here at our FREE WORKSHOP

Wednesday 27th April – 6:30pm

How to treat a sick Gut – A Case Study

with Naturopath Sally Broadhurst

 

Discover how Natural Medicine can help improve your digestion and wellbeing.

Gut dysbiosis (a fancy word for imbalance) is becoming more and more commonplace in our fast paced world. Symptoms and the intensity of digestive imbalance can present differently in everyone depending on the level of damage and how long it’s been happening for.

Continue reading “How to Treat a Sick Gut — A Case Study”

How Digestion and the Gut Influences Your Mood

The gut and brain talk and sometimes it’s not pretty

For years Naturopaths have talked of the gut-brain connection.  How the health of the gut health will influence mood and mood will influence the gut.  With the increase in research into the interplay between humans and bugs – the human microbiome – comes some really exciting findings that back this traditional concept.  Though more research is required to get all health care professionals on board, it may not surprise you that many people have made this connection for themselves.  They work to set their gut and mind up to talk nicely to each other for happiness and best of health.

The balance of the bugs

It is said that our body has 10 times the number of bugs than human cells and 150 times as many genes – wow that’s a lot of bugs.  Now before you start scratching and head for the shower, know that when the bugs play nicely together they support our health in a wide range of ways.  It is only when the bugs are out of balance that things go array, including negatively impacting your mood.

Research has shown the link between the overgrowth of specific bugs and an increased prevalence of anxiety, an increased sensitivity to pain, memory dysfunction, autism, IBS – irritable bowel syndrome – and IBD – more serious inflammatory bowel diseases such as ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease.  This list melds both conditions of the mind and of the gut and supports the gut-brain link. Continue reading “How Digestion and the Gut Influences Your Mood”

Digestion and the Mind Body Connection

Mindful eating focuses on the increasingly important roles of mind and spirit and their contribution to our eating habits and choices. In regards to our digestion, it is becoming more essential to consider not just WHAT we are eating but HOW we are eating, and it’s impact on our digestive function. By looking at diet and digestion from this new perspective, we can begin to establish a brand new relationship with our mealtimes and the food we eat.

Digestion is the process of breaking down, absorbing and assimilating food and the nutrients it contains. What happens when your digestive function isn’t working as optimally as we need it to? You can experience a multitude of symptoms that can include cramping, bloating, abdominal fullness, reflux, indigestion, constipation or diarrhoea; or a combination of these. So how much of this has to do with what you are eating and how much has to do with how you are eating it? Digestion can be affected by many different factors including poor diet choices, medications and food intolerances to name a few; but two of the biggest and often overlooked contributors to digestive dysfunction are stress and speed. Continue reading “Digestion and the Mind Body Connection”

IBS – Irritable Bowel Syndrome – Help for Bloated Bellies

As a Naturopath, I’m not scared to talk about poo, bloated bellies, or farting. Sounds gross and like something you don’t want to talk about, but the fact is, 1 in 5 Australians will have IBS throughout their lives and need help fixing it.

Good digestion is the key to good health –  a fact we’ve always innately known and this has become part of our vocabulary with old sayings such as “you are what you eat.”

If your belly isn’t happy – your body is sending you a signal that you may not be digesting and absorbing your nutrients properly. Healthy clean eating and super foods have become mainstream,, which is brilliant for health. But if you’re not digesting your food well, then you could be eating the worlds cleanest, healthiest diet, but you won’t optimize the nutrients from it, which are needed to keep your energized and prevent disease.  So if you think things may not be working so well in the belly department, it’s time to listen to your body and learn about what your tummy is telling you!

IBS Symptoms

  • Abdominal bloating and discomfort
  • Changeable bowel habits – alternating between constipation or diarrhoea.
  • Stool habits change – watery, loose, nuggety, thin ribbons.
  • Wind
  • Feeling of discomfort after eating & food sensitivities
  • Feeling of urgency – needing to go to the toilet often or feeling not fully evacuated when you empty your bowels.

Continue reading “IBS – Irritable Bowel Syndrome – Help for Bloated Bellies”

3 Benefits of Eating Paleo  

Paleo has been creating a huge buzz in the health and fitness community for the last couple of years now. Paleo is short for Palaeolithic Diet; also commonly known as the Caveman diet. The philosophy is based around the principles of eating the way our early ancestors did in the Palaeolithic era, before farming and industrialization. The foods you eat are the only ones that would have been available through hunting and gathering; specifically meat, vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds; excluding dairy, grains, legumes and any foods grown through modern day farming or processing practices. There is a myriad of resources available these days to set you on the path to this style of clean eating, but what happens when these resources become so overwhelming you just don’t know where to start? Questions start running around your head like – Why would I choose to eat like this? Do I have to give up foods I love? What are the benefits of eating this way? Fear not and read on, I’m about to give you 3 benefits of the Paleo diet that can help you decide if this eating style is right for you: Continue reading “3 Benefits of Eating Paleo  “

3 Secrets to Help Conquer Stress and Increase Your Wellbeing

Stress is something that we all experience  to varying degrees throughout our life. One type of stress, known as eustress, is actually a positive type of stress and is used to help us achieve our goals in a positive and productive way. But what happens when the pressure and worry of everyday life starts to get on top of you?  For some it might be work, for others finances; assignments, family, health – you name it, it is probably on someone’s list as a source of worry and frustration. The stress response that our bodies go through was designed millions of years ago to prepare ourselves for what is known as “fight or flight” – as in, do we stay and fight the dinosaur that’s about to attack or do we run away from it and hide in our cave? Now these days there are no dinosaurs stalking us but there are plenty of situations that can trigger the nervous system to prepare for this “fight or flight” response. And it’s when this survival system is triggered on a daily, weekly and monthly basis that our minds, bodies and spirits start to suffer and break down. Continue reading “3 Secrets to Help Conquer Stress and Increase Your Wellbeing”

Are Gut Bugs Driving Your Food Choices?

Every time I turn around there is more research being published which shows the impact, therefore importance, of the microbes (let’s call them bugs from now on) in your body. It’s not surprising when it is thought that the genes of bugs outnumber our own genes by 10 to 1 – i.e. there’s a lot more of them than us in our body. Much of the research has been on the impact of bugs on our immune system but now there is a wave looking at the role of bugs in food choices and weight management.

A paper published in the journal Bioessays in 2014 entitled “Is eating behavior manipulated by the gastrointestinal microbiota? Evolutionary pressures and potential mechanisms”* suggests that our gut bugs can drive our food choices as a way to help them stay strong with the goal to conquest and take over the gut. It’s suggested that they may do it in two ways: Continue reading “Are Gut Bugs Driving Your Food Choices?”

Green Smoothies – stay lean and clean

STAY LEAN, MEAN, BALANCED AND GREEN THIS CHRISTMAS

 We all know what it’s like at Christmas time – eating, drinking, parties, more eating, more drinking, and more parties. While the festive season is a wonderful opportunity for a lot of us to relax, enjoy the company of our family and friends and to take a break, it can also mean overindulging on food and alcohol; and with less emphasis on exercise and eating well, a lot of us can start the New Year feeling below average.

Our bodies are designed to detoxify themselves on a daily basis. Our liver, gut, kidneys, lungs and skin all play a role in removing toxins from our system and keeping us feeling vibrant and well. When we overburden these important pathways of detoxification, we can experience symptoms of toxic overload. Symptoms such as poor concentration, lack of energy, headaches, and weight gain or digestive issues can begin to manifest, making it harder to get back into the swing of things, hindering our well-intentioned New Years resolutions.

So how do we find balance in this season of excess and overindulgence?
Continue reading “Green Smoothies — stay lean and clean”

Detox Programs – get your mojo back after the festive season

detox progam brisbane

After the Festive Season, many of us feel sluggish and like we need a good detox. So what is detoxification?

A professional detox program will help you to:

  • banish bloating
  • beat brain fog
  • drop a few kgs
  • learn how to cook clean, nutritious meals
  • boost your energy

 Read on for our Discount Offer for our  2015 Summer Detox

There’s a lot of fad detox programs out there which can cause stress on the body, so it’s important to make sure you detox right.

Detoxification is something our bodies do daily – via our sweat, urine, bowels and breath. It’s the body’s way of getting rid of toxins so they don’t store in our tissues.

If we over indulge, eg too much alcohol, fatty food, sugar, medications, lack of sleep, sitting all day for work, lack of fresh air and exercise, our detox pathways can become sluggish. They still work, but not at their peak function. Our gut bugs can become out of balance, with the ones that cause bloating and tiredness in high numbers and the ones that support our immune function and gut health at lower numbers.

At Vibe, our Naturopaths and Nutritionists have 2 & 4 week detox programs tailored to suit your needs. Continue reading “Detox Programs — get your mojo back after the festive season”