How Gut Health Can Affect Your Mood
The connection between your brain and your gut is essential to understanding the mind and body connection and improving your health. Gut bacteria actually release feel-good neurotransmitters, including dopamine, norepinephrine, acetylcholine, and GABA. Remember this, 95% of serotonin is produced by healthy gut bacteria! We know that serotonin affects your mood and your overall happiness. That's why having a healthy balance of bacteria in your gut can significantly impact your mood and mental health.
It's important to understand how gut health and diet have positive and negative effects on your mood. The gut and the brain communicate with one another, and there is a connection between diet and disease, including anxiety and depression.
Cut out the crappy carbohydrates and refined sugars. These feed the wrong kind of biome in your gut.
Eating processed foods that contain refined sugar and carbohydrates creates inflammation and negatively impacts your gut's environment, and feeds the wrong kind of bacteria, creating "dysbiosis" that will further affect your health. Those foods containing more sugar, starch, fats, and fast foods are ultra-processed, especially soda and packaged snacks. Avoiding these processed foods and adding the right foods and gut support such as probiotics can improve your gut health and ultimately improve your mood.
Gut health is directly related to the stress in your life.
Studies show that a major stressful event long since passed could still be affecting your gut-even now. Being stressed out also causes many people to overeat and drink too much alcohol (both of which affect our gut).
It can go both ways, and stress can actually impact your gut health. Studies show that stress can alter the microbiome, which in turn exacerbates stress and anxiety. Stressful life events are also associated with the onset of symptoms and conditions, including inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD).
Ensure that you have strategies to keep your nervous system healthy and adaptable, including meditation, deep breathing, exercise, and chiropractic care.
Here are some of the best suggestions for improving gut health and mood:
Eat a wide variety of fruits and vegetables. The fiber in fruits and vegetables is what helps the microbiome stay and thrive in the gut. Avoid large amounts of sweet fruits and Eat fruits away from other foods to support optimal digestion.
Add healthy fats. Omega 3's support a healthy gut microbiome diversity, reduce inflammation, improve the gut lining, and support weight loss. And it's also good for brain health! They are essential, and they only come from our diet. Most people are deficient. We recommend Nordic naturals pro omega 2000 (get a 20% off on Wellevate here).
Take a quality probiotic supplement. Dr. Formulated Probiotics Mood By Garden of Life(on Wellevate) has strains that have been shown to support a healthy mood. Probiotics also create a competitive environment to prevent harmful bacteria from growing.
Combat stress and support optimal mood by staying well adjusted with regular chiropractic care.
For more information on improving gut health and mood and stress, book a consultation with Dr. Lara Hill. Visiting a chiropractor can provide you with benefits to your gut that can considerably impact your life. Your nervous system controls every part of your body, including your gastrointestinal system. Schedule your consultation HERE to see how we can Network Spinal care can help you.