HOW GUT HEALTH IMPACTS YOUR MENTAL HEALTH
22 / SEPTEMBER / 2021
SHEREE'S HEALTH DIARIES
It’s becoming common knowledge that your gut is in fact your second brain… did you know they are actually made up of the same tissue! That is one of the reasons why they communicate so effectively!
Have you ever had that feeling where you just know in your gut, that something is right, or wrong? That is both intuition and your little microbes and gut trying to communicate with you.
It’s often strange when I first talk to clients about this, how little of an impact they are aware of their food on their mood, yet after a few weeks in, it is one of the biggest changes they witness… not only their moods, but their overall mindset has lifted!
Our gut is home to trillions (let me say that again… TRILLIONS 1,000,000,000,000… yes that many zeros of microbes! Little organisms that you are playing host to inside of your gut. Isn’t it just crazy when you think about it. That is more microbes than human cells. It is no wonder they have such an impact on our health.
HOW GUT HEALTH & MENTAL HEALTH ARE LINKED
Hippocrates said around 2500 years ago, that ‘ALL DISEASE BEGINS IN THE GUT’ and in my humble opinion he wasn’t wrong, nor was he just talking about physical disease either. Mental health is a disease that is becoming more widespread, particularly in the last 18 months… The state of the world has fast tracked this for a huge number of people.
During the lockdowns in Europe, medications for anxiety and depression went up by around 70%, suicide rates skyrocketed, and EVERYONE, and I mean EVERYONE felt the impact that this pandemic has had on their mental state.
It is Mental Health Awareness Week here in New Zealand, and it is of the utmost importance that we start to bring more and more attention to this as a growing pandemic of it’s own.
One of the key ways to support our mental health that often surprises people is actually through our food, and supporting our microbiome (gut environment), as this is where 95% of our serotonin is produced (your happiness hormone).
In all honesty, to think the two are unrelated would be completely misguided!
HOW TO SUPPORT YOUR GUT HEALTH
When it comes to supporting our gut health for our mental health, you want to focus on eating whole, real foods, the less processed the better (the bad bacteria LOVE sugar). You also want to include things that grow the good guys like a high quality probiotic – BePure and Just Thrive are two of my favourite brands when it comes to this! Probiotics are great at crowding the bad guys out, and supporting a repopulation of your microbiome.
I actually have a number of my clients do a gut healing protocol to not only support the microbiome, but help with their mental health… this is inside my Reclaim Your Radiance Program, but I did create a 2 week reset for your gut health if you want to check it out here!
I have had a number of clients come off their anxiety or depression medication as a result of healing their gut, but if this is you I advise you do so under supervision of a doctor and work with a holistic nutritionist.
Also, it may sound strange, but to support both your mental health, and allow the gut to produce optimal levels of serotonin, do a bit of a dopamine detox! High levels of dopamine production (our addictive, to-do list hormone), depletes the production of serotonin.
So try to stay away from screens for a day, or immerse yourself in nature, journal or meditate and get to a place of stillness to allow the body to recharge it’s serotonin stores!
Finally, mental health is a battle, it is an illness, and often those struggling the most will not reach out for support, so please… check in on your friends and family, give smiles and hugs, share love and warmth, you never know just how much of a difference it makes.
I am here for you too, always!
Yours in Health,
Sheree xo
SHEREE BEAUMONT
Holistic Nutritionist, Personal Trainer & Wellness Coach I empower women like you to transform their lives, understand their bodies and feel their best from the inside out!
