Our gut, or enteric brain, is an important part of our body. It makes up the majority of our immune system and studies have shown when our gut microflora is impacted, our quality of life suffers. The two main things that have an impact on our gut is stress and sugar.

Stress, in the form of environment, lifestyle, career, etc., can deplete microbiota by keeping the body in a state of fight or flight. When the parasympathetic nervous system, or rest and digest, isn’t being activated as often as it should, our body can’t produce necessary enzymes to break down our food. So we aren’t absorbing nutrients as easily in the gut, leading to fatigue, more mood swings, anxiety, and depression.

Sugar feeds the bad gut bacteria. Any food we eat bathes our cells with information. If the food is good, it charges our cells and makes us feel well. If the food is not so good and unhealthy, it doesn’t give our cells the strength they need and begins to have a cascading effect on our body. As the phrase goes, our genes prime the gun, but lifestyle and environment pull the trigger. When we eat lots of sugar, we start to change our gut microflora. Refined sugars and processed foods feed that bad bacteria that lead to weight gain, anxiety, depression, and more.

If we’re not addressing our stress levels and sugar intake, we are effectively ignoring our body’s needs and setting ourselves up for dysbiosis, then autoimmune disease and gut disorders. Not to mention, gut health can really improve or destroy our mental health depending on what we’re consuming. A study done on mice found that after one day of eating the typical Western Diet that many Americans follow, the gut microbiota in the mouse had already changed for the worse. In two weeks, that mouse’s health severely declined.

Taking care of our gut directly impacts our wellbeing. While it’s ok to have unhealthy snacks, it’s important to be mindful of when it makes you feel badly. One thing that’s helped me transition into making more healthy choices is imagining my future ideal self and imagining what she would do. Another helpful tidbit is that it’s actually normal to feel withdrawals from sugar. So if you’re two days into cutting out sugar and feel like you NEED that chocolate bar, just know that it’s just your bad bacteria communicating to your brain its needs so it can stay alive. Imagine those cravings as cries from the enemy and if you stay the course, you’ll be much better off. Plus, there’s plenty of alternatives (approved by a former sugar addict) that won’t spike your blood sugar that you can test out after. 😉