Are Gut Bugs Manipulating You?

Do you remember the scene from Alien (1979) when the alien emerges from John Hurt’s stomach?

Isn’t weird to think that something could be living in your gut that is controlling the way you think, how you eat and what diseases you possibly get?

It might not be an alien but there are plenty of other gut invaders that could be manipulating you.

People (you included) are walking around every day with no idea that their gut is likely hosting one of the 3 main types of gut invaders…

• Parasites
• Bad Bacteria
• Opportunistic Yeast/Fungus

It is normal to have small amounts of these gut invaders in your colon but when they become an overgrowth, that’s when they become a problem.

For example, it is estimated that 50% of the world’s population has an overgrowth of H. Pylori, yet 80% don’t display any of the typical symptoms.

Some studies show that more than 50% of healthy women and men host colonies of Candida Albicans yeast, with 60% of those who suffer from it being women, 20% are men, and 20% are boys and girls.

The crazy part is that these gut invaders play a huge role in the daily choices that we make.

They can literally dictate the food we choose to eat, our mood, the balance of our hormones and our susceptibility to autoimmune disorders.

To learn more about how gut invaders specifically impact your thyroid and adrenals join me next Thursday (9/8) with Master Life Coach and Hashimoto’s Thriver, Molly Hamill, for our free webinar Your Gut: the Secret to Healing Your Adrenal and Thyroid Issues – REGISTER HERE

But for now, let’s talk about how these buggers are altering the way you think and do things…

In this week’s video and blog I talk more about how gut invaders impact your thoughts, mood, weight and health.

With my one-on-one and group coaching clients we are always talking about gut health.  It is the cornerstone of your overall health.  If something’s a brewing in there, it’s no bueno!

Your gut is where 80% of your immune system is housed.

It’s where you produce 90% of serotonin, your happy hormone, and dopamine, your well being hormone, along with 30 other different types of neurotransmitters that balance your mood.

Your gut is what keeps toxins out of your bloodstream, where nutrients from food are absorbed and it even has it’s own nervous system network – hence why it’s called the second brain.

The health of your gut is a big deal.

When gut invaders such as parasites, bacteria and/or yeast move in they suppress your immune system making your more susceptible to colds, flus, viruses and other diseases.

Here’s what else these gut invaders do…

Cause Cravings – Foods that contain gluten, dairy, sugar, soy and alcohol are like crack for gut invaders.  Gut invaders can interfere with appetite by either directly mimicking satiety and hunger hormones or by indirectly inducing an autoimmune response.  If you find yourself craving these foods often or a lot, this could be a sign that you’ve got something taking over your gut.

Mess With Mood – Certain gut invaders such as Clostridium difficile (C. Diff) have been linked to depression, mostly because it inhibits the production of your happy hormone serotonin.  Gut invaders also produce their own neurotransmitters (aka mood hormones).  Some neurotransmitters are calming and others are energizing.  If you have gut invaders contributing more energizing neurotransmitters it can cause anxiety and the more calming ones would contribute to depression.

Weight Woes – Gut invaders create internal stress as they throw off their own waste and byproducts (bug poo) that are toxic for the body.  They also mess with your sleep cycles.  This combo of chaos disrupts your cortisol, stress hormone, and cortisol dysregulation is linked to weight gain particularly around the midsection.

Janky Joints – Some parasites such as Blastocystis Hominis (Blasto) and E. Histolytica (E. Histo) like to get up in the synovial joint fluid creating all kinds of inflammation and joint pain.  Joint pain is not necessarily a sign of getting old, it’s highly likely you could have one of these buggers, especially since Blasto and H. Pylori like to hangout together and H. Pylori is so prevalent.

Autoimmune Triggers – They say you have to have 3 things in place for an autoimmune disorder to present itself; the gene, leaky gut and some kind of environmental trigger.  Guess what!?  Gut invaders such as H. Pylori, Borrelia, Blastocystis Hominis and E. Histolytica are some of the most common triggers for autoimmune along with gluten.  If you have an autoimmune disorder you can manage your symptoms better by getting rid of these gut invaders, or if you’re predisposed to one based on family history, you can try to prevent it by cleaning out your gut!

If you find that you just don’t feel like yourself, can’t control your cravings or get rid of pesky joint pain it might be time to look internally to see what could be going on in your gut!

Join me next Thursday (9/8) with Master Life Coach and Hashimoto’s Thriver, Molly Hamill, for our free webinar Your Gut: the Secret to Healing Your Adrenal and Thyroid Issues

We’ll be talking more about how gut invaders impact your hormones, mood and overall health, how to go about testing for them and getting rid of them!

REGISTER FOR THE WEBINAR HERE!