Top 5 Benefits of
Improving Your Gut Health
We are reaching in deeper and climbing higher than ever for better health and a better life – our best life yet! All month we will be featuring articles – like this on gut health – in our series called the “High Fives for Health”
This is the third in the series and is a spin off the memory quote from our first article, “Top 5 Fastest Ways to Gain Health and Drop Inches:”
“Get out of the rut to lose the gut!”
That’s right! We are talking about your gut one more time! Did you know that science considers the gut to be the body’s “second brain?” Improving your gut health, the healthy atmosphere of your gastrointestinal tract, has phenomenal impact on your health – more so perhaps than any other thing you can do! Improved gut health and function improves:
1) Your immune system – Up to 80-95% of your immune function comes from the healthy function of the GI tract. An unhealthy gut always leads to repeated and increased risk of diseases of many kinds. Toxic gut means toxic body.Toxicity is one of the three primary causes of sickness and disease.
*Note: On this topic of toxic gut, this is a great place to state that we do not recommend herbal “Colon Cleanses” or cleanse products. Regenerating the gut health through a proper eating plan and the use of excellent probiotics is the superior approach.
2) Your complexion – The skin is the largest organ we have. If the body cannot discard wastes through the GI tract, as much as 50% of the toxins are reabsorbed through the blood stream and released through the pores in the skin, often causing acne and cystic eruptions and boils. Improving the gut health dramatically increases skin health and beauty. One look at someone’s face or back torso can give you a good glimpse at the gut health or lack thereof.
3) Your weight and waist circumference – Excess padding around the middle comes from two primary sources: hormone related fat-storage and undigested putrefying food in the gut. Research shows from 5-10 pounds of this rotting food in the average American gut on any particular day. Improving gut health naturally causes a weight reduction and, most especially, dissolves inches off around the middle.
4) Your moods and ability to sleep – as much as 85% of your serotonin/melatonin balance comes from the “second brain” known as the GI tract or gut system. This delicate balance operates in connection with the stress hormone cortisol mentioned above and dictates both the “happy hormones” and the sleep hormone levels. Improving gut health helps the adequate production of melatonin, in addition to removing sleep loss due to indigestion.
Regarding your moods, it can be shocking to learn that about 90 percent of the fibers in the primary visceral nerve, the vagus, carry information from the gut to the brain and not the other way around. Your moods depend much more on your gut health than your brain health, although common pharmaceutical drug therapy ignores this fact when treating mood disorders like depression and anxiety. A healthy gut is the very first step to overcoming either type of disorder.
5) Your Bones – Science is also recently investigating the connection that proper levels of serotonin from the gut play in counteracting the bone deterioration of osteoporosis. This fits in with the Endocrine System classes we teach and the principles on acidity and alkalinity in respect to bone loss or gain at all ages, but especially when over the age of 50 years.
So there you have them, more of our High Fives to Health Series, The Top 5 Benefits of Improving Your Gut Health! These are some very significant areas that can easily and quickly be impacted with the right eating plan and some high quality targeted nutrition.
Want to know more about how to get and keep a healthy gut? Online classes and radio broadcasts cover these topics and more all year long! Connect with me on Facebook to keep up to date with our events and coaching opportunities.
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Believe. Choose. Activate. Achieve. (Repeat.)
Dr. Michelle's mission is to educate, activate, challenge and equip others to live a full, satisfying life, ever-growing in the Kingdom of God.
Michelle is a mountain-taker in all expressions of her calling. Sometimes it is on literal mountains leading ladies on spiritual adventures in faith. Other days, it is consulting with Kingdom-minded businesses and ministries to develop professional website platforms and social media strategies. Still other times, you will find her training mountain-takers to possess their physical land - their health, spirit, soul, and body - teaching classes and doing wellness evaluations for churches and corporations large and small, as well as providing "secret service" concierge wellness services for other speakers and ministers.
Wherever the call of God takes her, she firmly believes it is time for Christian businesses, entrepreneurs, and ministry leaders to be diligent to ‘write the vision and post it so plainly upon tablets that everyone who passes may be able to read it easily and quickly as they hasten by.’ And then ACT on the vision.
Read more About and Experience here: http://thepictureofhealth.com/michelle-2
- Great Faith Adventures - August 15, 2020
- Great Faith Adventures – Video Gallery - March 10, 2018
- 2016 Annual Year End Ministry Report - February 4, 2017
HA! I could SO sew you that apron if you want me to that is TOO cute! Oh, the article was good too.
I remember the first time I was in a class when you taught about gut health…it was a definite AHA! moment for me. I had no idea the state of my gut affected EVERYTHING! Thankful for the information!!
This article definitely answered a lot of questions for concerning the importance of a healthy gut and maintaining overall health. I have not had healthy digestion for over 14 years and I now know that this has called some of the medical problems I have had. I am looking forward to getting my gut healthy and fufilling all of God's plans and purposes for my life. There are lives to be touched and changed with His Good News!!
Michelle, once again you've targeted that "need to know" information. The more I hear from you, the more I recognize what I don't know! Looking forward to learning and applying more to run the race…and win! Heartfelt thanks!
One of my favorites. So much insight here. Interesting about the second brain….never heard that before. Thanks! You are so greatly appreciated!
Excellent information. I'm so glad you mentioned not to use a cleanse, I was thinking about using one to help kick start this year. Once again I was faced with the quick fix attitude. Instead of "slow and steady wins the race!"
Whoo! If this article doesn't motivate one to get their gut healthy, I don't know what will! Who wants "undigested putrefying food" in their gut or a toxic body which could very well lead to disease? Who doesn't want a slimmer waistline and pretty skin? Amazing that the gut is our body's "second brain"!!!
Again, so much useful information here that the public needs to know! Thanks!!
This is probably the most amazing revelation I've had about health issues! Maybe I can drop some of the mood-altering drugs when I get healthy. Wouldn't that be a 'yipee'!
THANKS so much! You guys and gals are Champions! And Champions live differently! WAY TO GO!
Boot Camp with Michelle is amazing and I am seeing results. I am determined to conquer this mountain with The Lord's help. This week, I had a loss of 3.6 pounds and lost 1 – 1/2 inches off my waist. Praise God! All this with limited mobility since I am battling something in the meniscus of my knee. All Glory To God!
I never heard about this connection between gut health and improvement in bones before. Very interesting.
In 2009, around Thanksgiving and Christmas time, my husband and I were visiting family and many people around us were getting sick with the flu. We had been eating healthier and taking a good probiotic for most of that year. We believe those measures along with God's healing power kept us from being sick. All glory to God!
I am so looking forward to those happy hormones kicking in, with me having a smaller waistline and sweet sleep! What wonderful motivation! Praise the Lord!
Really great info and inspiration. Thank you for the stats. I'm going to relisten the Endocrine series. It was one of my favorites when you did the POH series in Branson.
Enjoyed the article…..was especially interested in the colon cleasnes not being the best way to go and better to get the body to keep gut healthy on its own. thanks
Very "meaty" article! Something new I learned was that gut health affects moods.