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Unhealthy Gut? Here Are the 9 Tricky Signs

Unhealthy Gut?

Do you know what the gut represents? It’s another name for the gastrointestinal tract, so the gut consists of all the organs that have an essential role in digestion.

Inside our gut, there are tons of microorganisms, such as bacteria, fungi, yeast, parasites, and viruses that live in our bodies. This is what we call THE MICROBIOME.

Most of our microbiome can be found in the colon, and it weighs a total of 2-3 pounds (and trust me, unlike belly fat, you don’t want to lose that kind of weight).

Our gut microbiome has a mix of good and bad bacteria, which is helpful in many aspects: it protects our bodies from dangerous bacteria, aids in digestion, creates vitamins and minerals, regulates metabolism.

It’s totally understandable why we need our gut health, as it impacts us on many levels. Let’s talk about 12 signs and symptoms that your gut health might need improvement:

You’re always constipated

According to Keri Gans, MS, RDN, CDN, and the author of “The Small Change Diet”, you might have a diet that’s very low in fiber, and that’s why you struggle with constipation and bloating.

If you want to improve it, you should try to gradually increase one intake of high fiber foods, like fruits, veggies, whole grains, and even legumes.

And, the most important thing, don’t forget to drink WATER. Why do we recommend a gradual increase? Because some folks are prone to bloating, as their bodies need to adjust to higher fiber intake. Also, having some daily activity to help your body move a little will really be helpful.

You suffer from chronic GI discomfort

Chronic GI discomfort covers abdominal pain, bloating, gas, diarrhea, constipation, heartburn, and nausea. All these symptoms might lead to compromised gut health.

Studies show that there’s an estimated 10-20% of American citizens who suffer from one form or another of chronic GI discomfort. According to Glazer, this is not uncommon, but neither normal.

Usually, the most common GI irritants are our favorites as well: high levels of fats, fried foods, caffeine, alcohol, carbonation, gum, dairy, gluten, and some artificial sweeteners.

If you want to get to know your body and learn which foods harm your body, try cutting them out to see which one’s absence makes you feel better.

You bloat up and get very gassy immediately after eating certain foods

This might be the first sign that you have an intolerance, according to Mike Gorski, RD, registered dietitian, and owner of MG FitLife. If you noticed that there are certain foods you eat that each and every time make you gassy and bloated, you’re the one that can turn this into a good thing.

Your body will always tell you more than you think. All you have to do is to listen to it and LEARN. There are tons of people who ignore these signs that come from their own bodies and end up harming themselves even more.

If you know what the common denominator in all of your meals is, try cutting it out for two weeks. Some of the most common are gluten, dairy, and soy.

insomnia — Photo by Marcos Mesa Sam Wordley from Shutterstock

You have trouble sleeping

Sometimes, our gut health might interfere with our sleeping schedule. If you’re not getting enough sleep, and you wake up feeling unrefreshed, or even struggle with insomnia, it can lead you directly to your gut, as David Gozal explained, MD, sleep medicine physician at the University of Missouri School of Medicine.

If you want to improve it, and we guess you do, try adding more fiber to your diet. It might help improve your sleeping hours if you consume more foods that are rich in probiotics, get daily walks, avoid alcohol, and also fatty or sugary foods. Try these for a couple of weeks and see how you feel.

You suffer from chronic diarrhea, fatigue, and headache

Sometimes, this is actually a sign of “leaky gut”. In an unhealthy gut lining, there are gaps between the cells that allow partially digested food, toxins, and even bugs to penetrate into the tissues that are found beneath it.

This triggers inflammation and modifies the gut bacteria. This way, an increased intestinal permeability makes room for gastrointestinal conditions like celiac disease, Crohn’s disease, and irritable bowel syndrome.

Try removing those foods that might be inflammatory and change your gut bacteria, like alcohol, overly processed foods, some pills, and foods that cause you allergies or sensitivities. Instead, replace them with nutritious, unprocessed foods that will rebuild your gut flora.

You’re tired and sluggish all the time

The gut is directly linked to our brain, and the good functioning of our microbiome is extremely important for our mental health and the way we’re able to deal with stress.

You probably know this already, but foods have the ability to affect how we feel, which can later manifest into our moods. While mood disorders aren’t necessarily regulated by gut health, they might be a factor.

If you’re feeling a bit depressed lately, or you suffer from anxiety, try getting enough sleep and drink more water. You might try tuning into your diet and lifestyle to see where the problem is.

You recently finished taking your antibiotics

It is well known that antibiotics can alter our gut microbiome and put us at risk for nutrient deficiencies. That’s why, oftentimes, when you’re being prescribed a certain medication, your doctor also recommends you take some probiotics.

The thing is, when you suffer from a bacterial infection and you get a prescription for antibiotics, those antibiotics aren’t specific enough to target only the bad bacteria, so in its way, it might affect the good bacteria as well.

That’s why the answer is probiotics! Probiotics are live microorganisms that can be found in fermented foods and are GREAT at providing more good bacteria for your gut.

If you can, try getting those probiotics through foods, because fermented foods are always better when it comes to bacterial diversity.

gut — Photo by Doucefleur from Shutterstock

You have constant heartburn after eating some foods

Keep in mind that your stomach and esophagus are also a part of your digestive tract, so you may be creating a bit too much of an acidic environment, according to Gorski.

You might be eating too fast, which is totally understandable, as we all do. But next time, try to take your time in between bites, chew your food, enjoy it!

Some foods might be at fault for causing acid reflux, and as you’ve probably guessed, I’m about to list some of your favorite foods: coffee, chocolate, alcohol, greasy foods, highly processed sugary foods. Basically, anything that’s fun and delicious!

You have frequent and painful gas

Gas and bloating can be very tricky, especially if there’s another diagnosis looming. If you have intermittent gas and bloating, try a bunch of tricks that might help you reduce the ingestion of air, support proper digestion and reduce any potential irritants.

For some patients, persistent gas is definitely a sign of a functional GI disorder, like GERD or IBS, and it can be evaluated and treated by a GI physician and a dietitian.

You can try to reduce carbonated drinks and chewing gum. Also, try eating less garlic, chocolate, alcohol, spicy foods, and greasy fatty foods. Also, make a map out of which foods might trigger these symptoms, and try to avoid them as much as possible.

If you enjoyed reading this article, we also recommend reading: America’s 9 Healthiest Fast Food Joints

Can You Burn Calories If You Sweat? Here’s What Experts Say

There are a lot of people who hate it when they sweat. It makes them feel uncomfortable and they might feel the urge to take a shower immediately. Of course, we are not talking about the sweat you have after a hard training session, but about the sweat that happens naturally on a daily basis. That’s the type of swear that drives people crazy!

However, when we are talking about the droplets of sweat that appear on your body after a long workout, things are a lot different. That is because people have an idea in their minds that if they sweat incredible amounts, it means that their exercise routine is working.

It is actually true? Can you burn more calories if you sweat?

It is actually quite logical because sweating means that your body is working to eliminate the toxins that it has, so that requires more energy than usual.

We are curious to know if perspiring a lot can actually help us burn more calories throughout the day, so in order to find out the answers we are looking for, we have decided to talk to several experts. If you want to find out what actually happens in your body when you sweat, keep reading!

Photo by Monika Wisniewska from shutterstock.com

What is the cause of sweat?

According to Thad E. Wilson, Ph.D., a professor in the department of physiology at the University of Kentucky College of Medicine, sweat is the way that your body cools itself down during the time you spend exercising or other types of heat stress.

As you already know, your body tends to sweat more when you are in hot weather or when you are doing a high-intensity workout. With that being said, it means that your body produces sweat in order to keep you from overheating.

Although it might be hard to believe, especially when you are doing a high-intensity interval training (HIIT) workout, your exercise routine itself doesn’t trigger your body to produce more sweat. As a matter of fact, physical activity causes an increase in your internal temperature, which sends signals to your body that it is time to perspire in order to cool itself down.

More sweat equals more calorie burn?

Unfortunately, the sweating process doesn’t affect the number of calories you are actually burning. Even though it is true that perspiring requires more energy to have the ability to carry the ions that are allowing water to go into the glands that are secreting it as sweat, it’s not making a big difference.

Long story short, the number of extra calories that you are burning when you are sweating doesn’t have a big impact on the way you feel overall or in terms of weight loss.

According to Gabbi Berkow, a certified personal trainer, when you are sweating, it means that your body is losing water weight, not body fat.

Even though it’s true that when you are losing weight all over your body it is actually a combination of body fat and water weight, what is most important is the fat percentage. If you can’t tell the difference, here is a more simple way. Think about a fad diet, like the military diet. This lasts for three days and it says that you can lose up to 8 pounds.

These are a lot of pounds in a short amount of time and it’s usually mostly water weight. It can make you appear smaller, but it is not sustainable. You can gain all the weight back, and even more, in a shorter period of time. This is why you shouldn’t focus on losing water weight but on maintaining a healthy and balanced lifestyle.

Physical activity and sweat

In general, physical activity is the best way to burn those calories. The more intense your workout is, the more calories you are going to burn. If you are using large muscle groups, like your quads and your glutes, your body will generate more sweat and will use more energy.

If we are comparing two workout sessions, such as an aerobic workout versus a weight-training session, you won’t see that much of a difference in terms of the calories burned. However, when you are doing more strength-based workouts, such as lunges, squats, push-ups, and deadlifts, your body will experience an afterburn effect, which is also known as excess post-exercise oxygen consumption (EPOC).

EPOC refers to the fact that your body will continue burning calories long after your workout ends. This doesn’t happen when you are doing cardio. Even though the number of calories burned during the cardio workout might be bigger than the number of calories consumed while doing a strength training session, when your workout is over, you won’t keep burning calories.

For example, if you did a cardio workout and burned 500 calories, the number stops at 500, even though you were drenched in sweat. On the other hand, if you are doing a strength training workout and it says that you burned 300 calories, the number will increase as the day goes on. According to some studies, your body can keep burning calories even 24 to 48 hours after your session is finished.

However, you are going to sweat more during the aerobic workout versus a strength one. If you are doing a weight training session and you are resting for a few seconds before jumping to the next set, you will see that you won’t need to towel off as much.

In conformity with Gabbi Berkow, this doesn’t mean that you didn’t get a good workout in or that you didn’t burn calories. This only means that your body temperature didn’t go up as much.

Regardless of the number of calories burned, or how much you’ve sweated, you need both styles of training in order to see results and to have a balanced life.

Everyone sweats, but in their own way

There is no doubt that everyone sweats but in their own way. For example, some people may need to change their shirts, while others are barely “glowing”. In conformity with Wilson, people who are living in hot weather are more likely going to perspire, due to the fact that their bodies will begin the cooling down process.

However, there are people who can start sweating even though they are in a colder climate. That is because everyone is different and you can’t compare people.

Berkow says that even though you sweat a lot during your workout, this is not an accurate indicator to measure how many calories you have burned. She gave an example for those who still don’t believe this. She suggests going on a walk on a warm day at 1-2 pm because you are more likely going to sweat, compared to the same walk on a colder and darker day. However, the number of calories burned can be approximately the same.

TAKEAWAY

The bottom line is that regardless of the physical effort you are putting in, the number of calories burned does not depend on how much you’ve perspirated. If you are interested in losing weight, you should focus on working out, including both strength training and cardio in your sessions, and eating in a caloric deficit.

What do you think about this topic? Did you know that sweat is not an important factor when it comes to the number of calories torched on a day? We are curious to know what you think, so make sure to let us know by leaving a comment in the section down below!

If you enjoyed reading this article, don’t forget to check this one out as well: 12 Signs You’re Not As Healthy As You Think!

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