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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”

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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”

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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”

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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”

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IBS pain relief discovery

 

This study demonstrates yet more evidence of the elegant complexity that underlies our mind-gut-immune system links.

If you suffer from IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) and pain, then you and your healthcare providers may need to “think outside the box” of usual oral medications to treat your pain.

Our practitioners at VIBE can help with those other useful pain-relieving modalities like acupuncture, massage, osteopathy (i.e. clinical pilates and other exercise-related therapies).

 

Continue reading “IBS pain relief discovery”

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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.

Make a happy gut home to support your mood

If it’s not just about the bugs,  but the balance of the bugs in the gut that’s important.  Here’s what can you do to make a happy, balanced bug home.

Continue reading “How Digestion and the Gut influences your mood”