How gut health helped my mental and physical health
By Esha Ahmed
“It takes guts for someone to accomplish what you did.” I have heard this saying quite a bit throughout my life but never understood why the gut played such an immense role. But our guts do in fact have an important foundational role that pretty much dictates our overall physical health and mental well-being.
I grew up struggling with poor gut health. I always wondered what was wrong and why the prescribed medications were not working like they should. What I didn’t realize at that time was that the medicines may have been working, but they were being counterproductive because my diet wasn’t great. I wasn’t physically active and my stress levels were extremely high which negatively impacted my gut. As I got older and more curious, I did some research about the lifestyle changes I could make to improve and manage my health through natural remedies.
I found out that a huge part of the improvement meant that I had to create a diet filled with beneficial foods and eliminate harmful foods. Unfortunately, I had to limit eating Pakistani foods which was the hardest part of implementing this change. I adore food, especially one from my culture, but I also had to make sacrifices for my health. Eventually, implementing this diet allowed me to see the changes I yearned to see at one point and maintaining those changes has become my number one priority. As my health improved, I began eating Pakistani food again but in moderation so I wouldn’t reset the new diet completely. This experience has shown me the value of food and how it can act as medicine in scenarios like mine.
Gut microbiome
Our gut microbiome contains numerous species of bacteria, viruses and fungi (some of which are helpful and some harmful). It is important to make sure the gut contains a variety of bacteria, not one more than the other, as it keeps the gut healthy and reduces risk of disease. Gut health is connected to everything else. By taking care of your gut, primarily through diet (but also good sleep, decreased stress, etc), you will notice positive changes in your mental well-being, immune system and reproductive health, among others.
Beneficial foods
Focusing on better quality foods was essential, and because my diet was influenced heavily by Pakistani culture, I was not used to incorporating variety throughout the day and had minimal knowledge of the effect of specific foods on the body. I learned that probiotics, fibrous foods and leafy greens were the key factors I had to implement in my diet through various foods.
Probiotics
Probiotics are classified as a microorganism that is introduced to the gut as good bacteria which helps maintain the variety of the gut microbiome that I mentioned above. This simple introduction into the body helps regulate digestion, decrease bloating or gas and decrease inflammation which results in abdominal comfort. After changing my diet, I ate a ton of yogurt in different flavors and forms because it made my stomach feel cool while getting my serving of probiotics in.
Fibrous foods
Fibrous foods are exactly how they sound, foods that contain fiber in them. Fiber is a strange nutrient because it is a plant part that is indigestible, it simply moves through the stomach, small intestine and colon right out of the body. As you can imagine, this helps stool to exit the body which is helpful for regularity (especially those who struggle with constipation). I incorporate this by eating oats for breakfast or putting granola in my yogurt as well as making bean burrito bowls.
Leafy greens
Leafy greens are a must to include in your diet daily. This was the most challenging one to get used to because eating vegetables in Pakistani culture is not very common. Nonetheless, they are similar to probiotics because they contain a specific type of sugar that helps healthy bacteria grow in the gut to function as part of the microbiome. Some greens also contain digestive enzymes that help reduce toxic and indigestible materials which also helps people with food allergies (such as myself). I really liked sneaking spinach into smoothies because it almost tasted non-existent, and when I developed more of a liking toward leafy greens, I became creative with my salads.
Eliminating harmful foods
It wasn’t enough to add certain foods into my diet, I also had to swallow a hard pill and eliminate the foods that, although were delicious in the moment, harmed my health. This was honestly the most challenging part of the process because I am a huge foodie and having to restrict myself from things was not easy. I had to convince myself multiple times a day that this was going to be worth it and I am so glad I persevered because it did pay off in the end. Some of the foods I eliminated were fried foods, red meat and caffeine (the hardest one).
Fried foods
Fried foods are common in most people’s diets which is terrifying given the increase in cardiovascular disease as well as leaky gut syndrome. Fried foods impairs the function of the intestinal barrier. Fat is the most slowly digested macronutrient, and because greasy foods tend to have so much fat in them, they sit in the stomach for a much longer time and slow the emptying of the stomach. Because the stomach spends so much time carrying the fat nutrients, it induces feelings of nausea and bloating which causes severe discomfort.
Red meat
Red meat, although juicy and important to formal steak nights, contain chemicals with high levels of fat and cholesterol that damage the stomach lining. If eaten often and over a long period of time, it increases the risk of heart disease and cancer. In the short term, it can potentially cause indigestion and inflammation along with a heavy feeling in the stomach, even after eating very little amounts. Red meats take an extremely long time to digest and produce a specific chemical as a byproduct which causes all these side effects. Personally, this was a difficult food item to give up because I am allergic to many things and meat was one of the only sources of protein I get, but there are many alternatives.
Caffeine
Caffeine was the most challenging thing for me to give up and, in all honesty, I wasn’t able to do it for a long time. I was able to limit it but not completely eliminate it from my diet because I would need it to stay up and complete my homework or start my day because of the late night I had (I know my routine was not the healthiest). Caffeine acts as an imbalance in the gut microbiome by destroying the good bacteria we try to put in which defeats the entire purpose. It irritates the bowel by speeding up gut processes given its stimulant-like nature. Because the body is not able to keep up with this sudden speed increase, feelings of irritation are created in the stomach lining. I liked experimenting with coffee at home, so one thing I did was limit the intake overall and stopped buying it from coffee shops. I would spend the time making it at home so I could control what was going in them and substitute certain ingredients for a healthier alternative.
Food is so powerful, which is why I consider it medicine for most situations. It can be difficult to make lifestyle changes, but once you start to build healthier habits, you feel a lot better. Food can also be a means of creativity because although eating for the gut sounds boring, it doesn’t have to be. I got creative with incorporating all the beneficial things so I wouldn’t miss the things I eliminated and it surprisingly worked. I didn’t even miss the harmful foods all that much because the beneficial foods were making me feel so good and they were delicious.
Header photo by Jason Briscoe / Unsplash
