At Riverside Village Clinic, our professionals will take a deeper look at your gut microbiome and nutritional deficiencies and will work with you to get your gut health where it needs to be. The healthier the gut, the healthier the body.
A healthy gut has a huge impact on your overall health. In addition to contributing to effective digestion, it can foster an improved mood, a strong immune system, healthy sleep, heart and brain health, and more. An entire community of microorganisms lives in your body, and the majority of them reside in your digestive system.
Gut microbiota refers to both the good and bad bacteria that live in your digestive tract. You want to have more healthy bacteria in order to limit the bad bacteria that can grow and cause disease. Too much bad bacteria can throw your entire digestive system out of whack and contribute to poor overall health.
An upset stomach is a major sign of an unhealthy gut and includes other symptoms such as bloating, diarrhea, gas, constipation, and heartburn. Sometimes, your stomach just doesn’t feel quite right. With the right balance of bacteria in your gut, your upset stomach and related symptoms should subside.
Certain types of bacteria can colonize in your small intestine and interfere with the absorption of fat, vitamins, and minerals. This can lead to unintentional weight loss and gain, a condition called small intestine bacterial overgrowth, or SIBO. Your gut flora helps to regulate your metabolism, which can also lead to losing or gaining weight.
A food intolerance is when you have trouble digesting certain foods and can result in gas, bloating, diarrhea, nausea, and abdominal pain. Recently, food intolerances have been linked to an abundance of bad bacteria in the gut. It is also thought that there is a link between poor gut health and food allergies.
Skin irritation can occur when there is an imbalance in gut bacteria. Common inflammatory skin conditions include eczema, psoriasis, acne, rosacea, and rashes. Food allergies or poor diet can lead to gut inflammation, which, in turn, can lead to leaky gut syndrome, another disease that can cause skin conditions.
Serotonin is a hormone mostly produced in the gut. Having an unhealthy gut can affect your serotonin production, thus affecting your mood, energy, and sleep. If left untreated, insomnia and poor sleep in general can then turn into chronic fatigue.
When the gut is inflamed, those inflammatory cells leak out of the gut and into the bloodstream. We perceive this inflammation as pain, and it can travel to all parts of the body, particularly the joints.
At our East Nashville health clinic, our mission is to inspire a healthier community by educating, empowering, and partnering with our patients on their journeys from illness to wellness.
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