The Ins and Outs
If your gut is functioning properly, processing food and causing you no problems then for many people it’s easy to take it for granted.
But understanding more about how it works and tuning in to the messages it gives you can be more beneficial than you think. And looking after your gut is doubly important, as the majority of your immune system is based in the gut, so it makes sense that looking after it is helping your whole body!
What affects the gut?
There are all sorts of things that can affect the gut and have a detrimental effect. Being stressed, having a poor diet, illness, certain drugs, in fact even getting older can affect the gut and lead to discomforts such as constipation, diarrhoea, bloating, wind and infections.
How can you help your gut?
The gut flora is important to overall health and wellbeing and taking steps to ensure you have a balance of good bacteria to counter the bad will help maintain good digestion and overall health.
As we’ve looked at the things that can affect the gut flora negatively, in our Getting Gut Healthy section we discuss food, exercise and lifestyle choices and how taking small steps can make a difference.
