How Does The Gut Affect Your Health?

Why is gut health so important?

There’s good reason to pay attention to your gut even if it doesn’t give you much trouble. Your gastrointestinal system is not only the avenue through which you digest and absorb nutrition, it plays a multitude of other parts when it comes to keeping you in tip-top shape. 


Your Gut and Defence 


Your gut helps manage defence in three broad ways:


  1. First, the stomach and its mighty acid destroy many ingested pathogens and toxicants. 

  2. Second, the lining of the gastrointestinal tract acts as a smart filter, bringing the good stuff in and keeping the bad stuff out. 
  3. Last, over two-thirds of the immune system is housed in the gut. 


Your Gut and Detoxification 

Your body is detoxifying 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It’s not something you have to do yourself or think about. Your gut holds two of the big five organs of detoxification. The liver and the large intestine are responsible for detoxifying and eliminating a mind-boggling array of compounds, both introduced from the external environment and including normal by-products of your metabolism. The other organs of detoxification - kidneys, skin, and lungs - are also influenced by the digestive tract. 

Your Gut and Hormonal Balance 


Many hormones are assembled, activated, detoxified, and excreted via the gut.

Up to twenty percent of thyroid hormone is converted to its active form by the activity of the microbiome (the colony of beneficial bacteria residing in your large intestine).

Spent estrogens are metabolized by the liver and sent to the large intestine to be pooped out. It’s not an oft thought of cause, but if hormonal imbalances are present with gut disturbance, they can be improved by tuning up digestive health. 


Your Gut and Brain 


Your digestive system has a brain all its own, called the enteric nervous system (ENS), or more affectionately, the Second Brain. This is a massive network of nerve cells that are responsible for monitoring and managing every aspect of digestion on a second-to-second basis.


There are so many nerve cells - 7 - that it is equal to that of the spinal cord. It operates independently of your central nervous system - the brain and spinal cord - but takes input from it and gives feedback to it in a bimodal relationship. More and more evidence is suggesting that the state of the gut may have more to do with the state of your central nervous system and even your mental state than was originally thought. Not only is the Second Brain a player in neurological health, but the microbiome is also too. 



Bottom line: The health of your gut is foundational to the health of your body. Your digestive process and how easy or painful it is for you is an indicator of this state. When you understand how it works and the many components that go into it, you can begin to adjust your daily nutrition and lifestyle to promote healthy and pain-free digestion.


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My Office

1160 Toorak Rd Camberwell

VIC, 3124

0415 3111 80

vesna.naturopath@gmail.com

FAQ

  • 1. What are the costs of seeing a Naturopath?

    First session: 60 minutes - $135


    Follow up sessions: 30 minutes - $80. 

  • 2. Do you take both male and female clients?

    Yes, Everyone is welcome.

  • 3. How long will my treatment take?

    Treatments vary case by case. There's no cookie cutter approach here. It really depends on your ailment and what I am treating you for. Could be as little as a week - some treatments are ongoing. Best to message me directly and have a chat.

  • 4. Do I have to test before I get a treatment?

    Again this varies case by case. 

    For severe cases and stomach issues I always recommend testing so that the results give us a clear outline of what the root issue is and roughly how long it will take to fix. 


    When we don't run appropriate tests we are just throwing things at the wall and hoping that they stick - Knowledge = Results.


  • 5. Can you treat SIBO?

    Yes SIBO is very treatable. 


    More and more cases of SIBO are becoming common because of the procsessed foods we ingest and the rapid intake of antibiotics. Furthermore the stress of day to day life loaded with the stress of technology and social media compounds and usually results in some kind of inbalance in your stomach flora. 

  • 6. What's involved in my initial consultation?

    In your initial consultaiton we go over your lifestyle, dietary habits, sleep - basically break down your day lifestyle factors and nutritional intake. 


    We speak about your symptoms and outline your health goals. 


    The first consultaiton usually lasts for roughly around 60 minutes to go through everything. 


    After the first consult you will know whether we need to do further testing to make a diagnoses. 

  • 7. What kind of tests do you do?

    GI Map Testing 


    This test is conducted to diagnose problems with the gut.


    The test is designed to assesses your microbiome, as well as immune and digestive markers, from a single stool sample. 


    This test identifies pathogenic and beneficial

    (commensal) bacteria, along with opportunistic pathogens, parasites, fungi, and viruses, using new

    technology mainly multiplex, automated, DNA analysis. 


    Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis


    Other lab tests can provide very valuable information such as what foods we are allergic to, the stateof our gut, if we have infections, or if our hormone levels are up to par.


    With HTMA, we have something extremely powerful.


    From one strang of hair, the test will tell us whether youy're pre-diabetic, depressed, immuno comprimised or if you have too much aluminion that is impacting brain health and cognitive function.


    HTMA uses a small hair sample to get up to 3 months of information on the status of your mineral ratios and heavy metal toxicity which gives us insight into what is throwing the body off-balance.


    The hair is the ideal testing mechanism because it shows a cumulative pattern of health information

    that is safe and non-invasive in nature.


    It reveals health data far more accurate than urine or blood sample.



  • 8. What methods will you use to treat me?

    Varies greatly depending on your ailments and lifestyle factors. 


    The first step is to establish  diagnosis. 

    Once we do that I use a combination of lifestyle factors (Nutrition / Sleep / Exercise) and Herbal Supplements. 

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Simple changes get results. You don't have to live your life always reacting to foods with no energy and low libido. 

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