3 Ways to Improve your Gut Health & Boost Your Brain Power

By Natalie Mariani Kling, CCN 

Gut health has never been more important, or more well researched. In fact, many doctors and scientists are now calling the gut our second brain. Within the gut are hundreds of bacteria and other microbes like fungi, and viruses that send messages to our brain. These messages control many aspects of our health from hormone secretion to immune reaction to neurological function.

In fact, the microbiome is responsible for 70% of our immunity and 90% of serotonin production.

When our microbiome is healthy, we feel clear headed, focused, strong, and stable.  When our microbiome is suffering, or we have inflammation in the gut, we can feel foggy, chaotic and unstable. 

One of the more interesting examples is looking at kids who have neurological challenges ranging from autism to ADD.  Often times, when doctors address the microbiome of these kids, and work to rebalance it, they see cognitive function improve which can result in emotional stability, increased processing, and calmer behavior.

So here’s the deal…we need to take care of our guts! 

Here are 3 of my favorite ways to balance the gut and clear the head:

1. Kick the Sugar Habit

Added and processed sugars feed the bad bacteria in our microbiome.  When bad bacteria is more populated than the good bacteria, our microbiome suffers.  Think of a garden with more weeds than nutrients.  Instead, we want a lush garden with fertile soil that creates healthy growing conditions.

2. Eat Real, Whole Foods

Think of whole foods as food that is as close to how it appears in nature as possible.  The less processed the food, the more nutrition is available to fertilize our internal soil.  Good, whole nutrients and plenty of natural fiber feed the good bacteria that stabilize the body and build immunity.

3. Probiotics, Probiotics, Probiotics

Probiotics  repopulate our microbiome with good bacteria.  The more the good bacteria is alive and well within our microbiome, the stronger our microbiome becomes, and the better our entire bodies will feel. One super easy way to make sure you're getting your daily dose of probiotics is with our family's Probiotic snacks!

Gut health is a key to unlocking our health potential!  The more we can do to support it, the better we’ll feel physically, mentally and emotionally. 

The views and opinions expressed on this website belong soley to the original author and do not necessarily represent Mariani, its owners, partners or staff. Information contained in this blog post is for information only and should by no means be seen as medical or nursing advice, nor is it meant to take the place of your seeing licensed health professionals. It is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.