10 Signs Of An Unhealthy Gut And How To Improve It

Gut health is one of the most important aspects that could affect one’s overall health and wellness. Despite many people’s belief that it’s just another simple health concern, it’s crucial to know that gut health has been linked to numerous aspects and it’s one key contributor to a healthier body. 

Whether you believe it or not, your gut health plays a vital role in your health. It’s connected to the other health aspects that may seemingly have no direct relationship with digestion, such as emotional stress, autoimmune diseases, cancer, diabetes, and heart ailments.

Without proper gut care, people could suffer from an unhealthy gut and other health disorders.

To better prevent such issues, you might want to visit reliable online resources like BionuHealth.com and other similar sites to have a better understanding of your gut health.      

Common Signs Of An Unhealthy Gut

While many people have limited knowledge about the importance of their gut health to their overall wellness, it’s worth mentioning that this particular health aspect is crucial in keeping the body at its healthiest version.

After all, if you don’t know how to properly care for and nourish your body, you have a lesser chance of having a long life. 

Although this is one of the most common areas that many people tend to disregard, gut health is gradually gaining attention worldwide due to the unceasing efforts of the medical community.

Particularly, the notable complexity of the gut and its importance to one’s health is becoming easier to comprehend by many people.

As much as it’s difficult to manage gut health, it could also be a challenging task to spot signs of an unhealthy gut. To help you out, here are ten of the most common symptoms of bad gut health and how you can improve them:

1. Unusual Weight Changes

One of the most common concerns of many people, especially women, is the reason behind the strange shifts in their weight. Be it an unexpected weight loss or gain, one must be in deep confusion after they started noticing red flags in their normal weight.

If you’re one of these people, then that might be the right time to consult a physician, as you might be experiencing gut imbalance.

Commonly associated with sudden weight changes, the gut imbalance could hinder your body from absorbing much-needed nutrients properly. It could also affect your body’s ability to store fat and control blood sugar levels, which may result in the need to overeat. Such instances often lead to potential weight gain and obesity.

2. Stomach Ache 

Although you might think that the inexplicable pain you feel in your abdomen is a simple issue, you should know that even that could be a sign of an unhealthy gut.

Particularly, those uncomfortable situations caused by excessive gas might be a result of bad bacteria strains in your stomach. It’s also possible that the gas trapped in your gut might lead to heartburn and bloating.

If you’re experiencing constipation, diarrhea, bloating, and abdominal aches, then that might be early symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). This particular condition is often related to dysbiosis or the imbalances in the gut bacteria, which result in IBS.

3. Diarrhea 

Aside from the bizarre weight changes and stomach aches, another common symptom of an unhealthy gut is diarrhea. Whether chronic or acute, people suffering from poor gut health are also susceptible to diarrhea.

Between the presence of excessive in one’s abdomen and diarrhea, the latter could be more harmful as it causes the good bacteria to flow out of one’s gut and increase risks of dysbiosis.

4. Constipation 

Have you ever experienced having difficulty in your bowel movement due to the inadequate intake of fiber or abrupt changes in your diet? If so, what are the measures you opt to take to resolve your concerns?

While you might think of this issue as a trivial one compared to other aspects, those instances might be an indication of constipation. Particularly, this condition is linked with an imbalanced gut.

People suffering from constipation are prone to lower levels of gut bacteria, which makes it more difficult for stool to pass and their bowel movements to become less frequent.  

5. Sleep Issues

Besides the apparent impacts on one’s gastrointestinal (GI) tracts, another thing that you must know about an imbalanced gut is that it could also affect your sleeping patterns.

Specifically, an unhealthy gut could disrupt the normal production of serotonin, which is responsible for one’s sleep and mood. While getting a sufficient amount of sleep is crucial for one’s health and wellness, some people become more at risk of sleep disorders due to poor gut health.

As most of these hormones are produced in the gut, even the slightest complication could result in poor sleep quality and insomnia. Not only that, but poor gut health could also lead to chronic fatigue, sleep deprivation, and other sleep disorders.

6. Autoimmune Disorders

Poor gut health not only affects one’s mental health, mood and behavior, and GI tract but also disrupts one’s immune levels and makes their defenses against diseases crumble.

While you may not take this issue seriously, a simple issue with your gut could escalate to worse-case scenarios and could trigger certain health issues.  

If you’re wondering about how your gut microbiome is connected to your immune system, many experts believe that 80% of your immune system is within the gut lining.

Therefore, any sign of gut imbalance could result in the development of autoimmune disease. Among these conditions may include ulcerative colitis, multiple sclerosis, and rheumatoid arthritis.

7. Mood Swings

While it’s been stated in the previous section that an imbalanced gut poses significant impacts on one’s serotonin levels, it’s noteworthy to mention that the gut microbiome could also affect your mental health in more ways than one.

Specifically, the microbiome is responsible for the body’s reaction and tolerance to stress. Due to an unhealthy gut, a person becomes more prone to hormonal imbalance and could contribute to anxiety, stress, depression, and other mood disorders.

Some experts also believe that gut disturbance, along with inflammation in one’s central nervous system (CNS), might be underlying factors behind depression and anxiety.

People experiencing such conditions are also more likely to suffer from sudden emotional outbursts and unstable mood swings.

8. Skin Diseases 

Have you ever experienced skin flare-ups, rashes, and allergies? If so, how are you dealing with such skin conditions? What are the measures you take to properly manage the symptoms?

While it’s not well-known that your gut microbiome affects your skin, it’s important to note that the imbalance in gut bacteria could result in skin disorders like eczema and acne.

A study shows the connection between certain types of skin issues and the gut. Particularly, this implies that imbalanced gut health could lead to rosacea, psoriasis, eczema, and acne.

Whether you believe it or not, the gut microbiome influences the skin through complex immune mechanisms and could significantly cause inflammatory skin issues once neglected.

9. Food Cravings 

An unhealthy lifestyle and improper diet are some of the most common reasons behind an unhealthy gut.

While certain types of foods like pizzas, sweetened breakfast cereals, white bread, pastries, fried foods, and sugary drinks are the go-to meal options of many people, note that they can harm your body due to their toxins and preservatives.

Particularly, foods with added sugar could reduce the normal production of good bacteria in your gut and could increase the number of bad bacteria in the gut.

Such instances then lead to dysbiosis and irregular eating patterns. This could also result in sugar cravings and other unhealthy food cravings.

10. Bad breath 

Bad breath isn’t just a condition caused by poor dental hygiene and eating smelly foods. It could also be a symptom of poor gut health. Particularly, the bad bacteria in your gut could lead to an unpleasant breath odor, decreased appetite, and bloating.

Apart from that, it’s because the food that you ate that failed to pass through the bowel movement is stuck in the digestive tract and could cause bad breath.  

Improve Your Gut Health In Five Simple Ways

Are you familiar with the gut microbiome? If so, then you must’ve heard about its importance in maintaining balanced gut health. While gut health is often disregarded by some people, it’s important to note that this plays a vital role in keeping one’s body at its healthiest state.

As stated multiple times here, people could experience numerous health issues due to an unhealthy gut microbiome. Some of the most common consequences of this condition may include irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), diarrhea, and constipation.  

To save yourself from such risks, here are some efficient ways to care for your gut:

Maintain A Healthy Diet

Keeping an eye on your gut health and maintaining it at an optimal level can be challenging, especially for people who know little about their gut. While such situations could make you feel intimidated, there are numerous alternatives you can do to protect your gut.

For starters, you must prioritize following a healthy lifestyle, maintaining a balanced diet, getting a sufficient amount of sleep at night, and engaging in physical activities regularly to obtain your purposes.

Aside from that, it’s also better to consult your doctor if you notice early symptoms of imbalanced gut health to prevent risks of diseases.

More than that, you must be mindful of what you eat and the quality of the food you consume. As a rule of thumb, you should opt for foods that can benefit your gut such as the following:

• Vegetables, legumes, and beans  
• Fruits  
• Lean meats and poultry 
• High-fiber foods 
• Collagen-boosting foods 
• Wholegrain and high fiber cereal varieties   
• Dairy products

Manage Sugar Intake

Excessive sugar intake is one of the common contributors to gut dysbiosis and an imbalanced gut microbiome. While some people would think that sugar intake doesn’t have a significant impact on their health, high sugar levels could lead to an abundance of bad bacteria in one’s gut.

Some experts also believed that eating a lot of sugary foods and drinks and those with artificial sweeteners could increase bad bacterial strains, which are often linked with metabolic diseases. These could also result in diabetes and heart ailments.

Not only that, but researchers assert that the Western diet is negatively affecting blood glucose levels as it’s commonly high in sugar and fat. Due to their effects on the gut, these foods are considered harmful to the gut microbiome.

You should also know that excessive sugar intake poses negative impacts on your brain activity and behavior, which could result in irritability and mood swings.

Execute Proper Stress Management 

Giving adequate care and attention to mental health isn’t just about keeping it at an optimal level. It’s also to ensure that your gut health is well-taken care of. As stress could disrupt your gut, many experts believed that a person should prioritize handling stressors around them to prevent imbalanced gut health.

Certain types of stressors could agitate the living microorganisms in the intestines and harm the gut. These factors can include the following:

• Sleep deprivation 
• Emotional issues (e.g., anger, depression, stress, anxiety, guilt, low-esteem, grief)  
• Psychological stress 
• A sudden turn of life events 
• Financial problems 
• Chronic illnesses and diseases 
• Loss of a loved one 
• Environmental stress (e.g., cold, unstable weather, extreme heat, and noise) 

To better handle stress levels and manage your behavior, one of the most effective ways you can consider includes executing stress-management techniques. These may include deep-breathing exercises, meditation, and progressive muscle relaxation.

Apart from that, you mustn’t forget to follow a balanced diet, regular exercise, and sleeping well to efficiently manage your stress levels. 

Eat Prebiotic-Rich Food

When it comes to enhancing your gut health, there’s no denying the role of the two major types of beneficial bacteria that could improve one’s gut health, prebiotics and probiotics.

Intrinsically, prebiotics is found in fiber-rich foods like whole grains, fruits, and grains. While the latter occurs in many fermented foods such as tempeh, yogurt, and sauerkraut.

While prebiotics and probiotics are both helpful components in promoting a healthy gut microbiome, it’s safe to say that people must first choose prebiotic-rich food to help boost their diet. 

Healthy Guts, Healthy Body

Having a healthy gut microbiome may not be as easy as it seems. Fortunately, there are various ways you can consider to maintain balanced gut health such as knowing the symptoms of an unhealthy gut, seeking professional help, following a healthy diet, managing stress, controlling sugar intake, and opting for prebiotic-rich foods.

Through these simple yet efficient options, protecting your gut and keeping a healthy body could be much easier to accomplish.