What is The Gutsy Wellness About?
The Gutsy Wellness started with me – Ellie. Like many people I assume who are reading this page, I have struggled off-and-on with gut health for most of my life.
One memorable incident, I had a beer and a stack of pancakes that sent me into the fetal position for hours from painful gas buildup. I went through a period where I couldn’t stop burping which was mildly annoying until I counted over 60 burps in a day and broke down crying. I’ve seen doctors, read books, and heard countless stories of gut health gone wrong from friends.
I’ve played with my diet and tested different intolerances with no conclusive evidence toward a food allergy. Mostly, I struggle with diet motivation because my love for bread and ice cream sometimes supersedes my willpower!
I have also realized that there is so much more that plays into gut health than diet. For myself, the largest contributor to my unhealthy gut is a severe grass allergy I thought was unrelated for many years. My point here is to introduce the idea that gut health is oftentimes more complex than simply cutting gluten, and to offer the idea of less obvious potential gut irritants.
I felt compelled to start this blog, not from my own experiences in tummy troubles, but because in the past few years I have witnessed more and more people be diagnosed with IBS, gluten intolerance or some other digestive disease.
It’s alarming how many recent conversations of mine go something like this,
“I haven’t seen you in so long! How’s it going? How’s Jessica?”
“Oh yeah, everything’s good! Jess is good. She’s doing one of those elimination diets though, trying to figure out what she’s allergic to or something.”
“Oh yeah, I’ve been there. It’s crazy, why is everyone I know getting IBS?!”
End scene.
Welcome to the question at the center of The Gutsy Wellness: why is everyone I know getting IBS?!
Hopefully, at some point during the lifetime of this blog, we will stumble across an answer of some sort. In the meantime, I hope to take you on this journey with me.
Why Should I Care?
Whether or not you struggle with stomach trouble, we all have a strong incentive to keep the microbial life in our gut happy and healthy. Scientists are just now beginning to understand the extent to which your gut biome impacts your overall health. Some have begun to refer to the gut as the body’s second brain to convey how seriously it dictates the health of your body as an interconnected system.
Maybe you struggle with an abnormal GI tract making this a personal fight for you as well, but maybe you don’t. A 2015 study by NYU shows 74% of Americans report digestive discomfort, that leaves a solid 26% percent out there that can have a beer and a stack of pancakes then go about their day normally.
With this new wave of research coming forward, our gut could play a central role in understanding some of the biggest issues plaguing society today.
By improving our gut biome could we simultaneously improve the depression epidemic?
Could we increase people’s chances of surviving malignant cancers and heart disease?
How about abating chronic arthritic pain or autoimmune illnesses?
Given that the health of your gut directly impacts the body’s ability to reduce inflammation, stabilize your mood, regulate hormones, process carbohydrates, and so much more, I figure you can either have your gut work with you or against you.
I urge anyone and everyone to be proactive when it comes to your health, and following your gut is a great place to start.
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