How does my gut work???

Simple answer – we don’t really know.

Good news – scientists are working on it…..

But here are some fun facts about what we know so far:

Fun fact: Our guts are like another brain.

The gut has 500 million neurons in it and these make up the enteric nervous system which is part of our autonomic nervous system. This is the bit that controls our blood pressure, heart rate, breathing etc as well.

It is independent of the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems and thus is often referred to as a 2nd brain.

Fun fact: Our guts can regulate our mood

Our enteric nervous system uses 90% of the body’s serotonin and 50% of the dopamine, as well as 30 other known neurotransmitters. We know that these have important functions in regulating mood and we know that the gut sends messages to the brain as well as receiving information from it. Being nervous makes us feel sick and gives us diarrhoea and we’ve all made decisions based on “gut feeling”. The dopamine and serotonin also contribute to cravings for certain foods – esp those the gut bacteria want to eat.

Fun Fact: What is the microbiome?

Our guts are filled with bacteria, virues, protozoa and fungi that keep us healthy and keep our guts functioning. We’ve always known there were lots of bugs in our gut, but it’s only recently that we’ve started to appreciate how important these colonies are for our health and how much we need to look after them.

Fun Fact: Our microbiome loves to be well fed

A healthy microbiome is made up of lots of different colonies of bugs and it loves to eat fibrous food that we can’t digest. It turns this fibre into essential fatty acids and other vitamins that we can’t easily make ourselves. If we don’t feed it the fibre it needs, then certain colonies die and this can contribute to gut problems and other health issues. A person with a diet high in sugar will have a large sugar eating colony and small fibre eating colonies. Unfortunately, the bugs can’t make much out of sugar so we don’t get any health benefits and when we do eat fibre we can’t digest it because we don’t have the right bugs any more. This makes us feel unwell – sluggish, tired and have bloating and gut pain.

Fun fact: Our microbiome talks to our brain as well

The microbiome can send messages up the vagus nerve to tell the rest of our body and brain what it wants. Unfortunately we don’t always understand the language. We know that it can change the shape of our taste buds to make us crave food that it wants to eat….if we have a large colony of sugar digesting bugs then it will make us crave and like more sugar, but if we have a large colony of fibre digesting bugs then this will make us want more leafy green veges and other healthy foods. A larger variety of bugs means fewer food cravings as they are more balanced.

Fun fact: Our microbiome is like a second immune system.

There are more cells in our microbiome than the rest of our body, and these bugs exert control over our metabolism in ways we never imagined. We really know so little about this yet, but we have found that those who eat the widest variety of food – especially wholegrains, legumes and leafy greens get the most benefit back from their guts. This seems to hold true across a wide range of diseases from gut problems, neurological problems, mental health issues and autoimmune diseases.

Fun fact: our guts can get used to (almost) anything.

If we are used to eating low fibre, low spiced food then that’s what our guts will like. Our bodies (and brains) really like consistency and regularity. They have to be trained to enjoy variety and trained if we want them to behave differently. If we are used to one sort of diet and change radically for a week, our guts are likely to be upset. It can take 3-12 months to build new bacterial colonies and get used to metabolising new foods without a problem. This is the same as training a muscle or developing a new behaviour.

It’s really important to exercise your gut – with all those fibrous foods. But getting it fit can be a little unpleasant with bloating and erratic stool patterns. However, once it’s ‘fibre fit’ it will run like clockwork and you’ll feel great.

Fun fact: 50% of your poo is made up of microbes

So wave goodbye to all your little friends whenever you open your bowels.

Fun fact: it is normal to open your bowels anywhere from once in 7 days, to 7 times per day.

Although most of the population go between once in three days to 3 times per day. It’s also relatively unusual to have the same bowel habit every day. Many people fluctuate day to day in how often they go and the consistency of the stool. It was Queen Victoria who said we should all open our bowels once in the morning…. she wasn’t basing this on any evidence! However, due to this cultural ideal, when you do open your bowels in the morning, you are more likely to have a good day 😉

 

Photo credit: Gary Buckman. Picturing Marion and Trish cooking up a storm at Quaker Summer Gathering 2018-19 where Marion catered for 130 people for a week using recipes on here and more still to be posted.