My Family’s Gut Health Journey

Right now, I’m busy working on my first gut health book to help you improve everything from your digestion to your immune system. Before I get to all that, though, I thought I would share why I’m so passionate about gut health: It’s been a key part of my family’s well-being (and not-so-well-being) over the past decade. 

Where It All Started

Up to eleven years ago, I wasn’t really concerned about gut health other than I knew to avoid antibiotics if I could and that it wasn’t a bad idea to take probiotics. But then my almost seven year old son was diagnosed with osteomyelitis (a bone infection) in his femur. He had been really sick for a few days and finally the doctor on call at the emergency department tested him for staphylococcus aureus (staph infection). When she got the results, she told us to go directly to the nearest children's teaching hospital.

Within about 24 hours, they confirmed that the infection was in his bone. They put him on IV antibiotics and he quickly started to get better. They sent us home after a few days with some oral antibiotics for him to continue for a month. We were definitely grateful for those antibiotics. It’s scary to have your child be so sick.

He started first grade about two weeks after being in the hospital, with some activity restrictions. Evidently, the part of the bone that was infected is soft and susceptible to being injured by roughhousing, which is what first grade boys tend to do. That was tough on him, but the really tough part came when he finished the antibiotics.  

Almost immediately his behavior changed for the worse. It seemed that he was in fight or flight mode when he was at school and it quickly became apparent that his teacher couldn’t handle him. I dove right in to figure out what was going on.  

The follow ups with his doctors didn’t help. I told them what was happening, and they didn’t think it was related to his osteomyelitis or the antibiotics. I don’t know if it would be any different now.

I started trying a lot of different strategies. I thought that maybe he was reacting to his experience in the hospital, and enrolled him in play therapy. We were already giving him plenty of probiotics. His diet was good. But nothing was really working; if anything it was getting worse. My energetic boy, who used to spend hours drawing and looking at books, couldn’t sit still for more than a few minutes.

It wasn’t until I happened upon The Feingold Diet (founded by Dr. Feingold in the mid-70’s) that he started rapidly improving. I was so impressed that changes in diet could make such a huge difference that I enrolled in a health coaching certification the next fall. I eventually learned that many of the changes I made in his diet would have helped by healing his gut.

Within a year, he was completely back on track in school and we were breathing a sigh of relief.

And Then It Was My Daughter’s Turn

Fast forward a few years, and my daughter was having frequent headaches. Then in her freshman year of high school she started getting almost daily migraines. It took the right doctor to discover that she was borderline celiac. She removed all gluten from her diet and gradually her headaches went away. She also experienced a whole lot of other improvements in her health as well. 

Gut Health Showed Up Again This Summer

Then last summer my son hit a wall with his bicycle racing and tested positive for having antibodies to Epstein-Barr virus. You’ll know something about this if you’ve been keeping up to date with my newsletters. I knew that I wanted him to see the same doctor as when he was younger.  

It took about eight months to get in to see her, and imagine my surprise when she suspected that he was being affected by the virus as a result of subpar gut health! She confirmed it with testing and he’s in the middle of a healing protocol now. She figured that we probably got most of the way to healing his gut after his osteomyelitis, but not all the way.

I’m Passionate About Gut Health & You Should Be, Too

I’m sure you’ve heard it all before (probably from me!), but your gut health affects more than just digestion. It impacts your heart, brain, immune system, and even your mood. 

You have about 100 trillion microbes living in your gut right now, and if you weighed them all, they’d weigh over four pounds! There are over 1000 different species of known gut bacteria; some are your own personal army of helpers, digesting your food, making energy, and keeping your immune system strong. Others are not so good, linked with digestive upset, inflammation, obesity, and even conditions like cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and asthma.

It’s important for your gut to stay in balance, with more of the good bacteria and less of the bad. The good news is that you have the power to do that with your food and lifestyle choices.

Tips to Improve Your Gut Health

We all have an individual microbiome makeup, and no one else’s is exactly the same. Even though we all have our own unique gut microbiome, the basic guidelines for keeping it in balance work for nearly everyone.

I’m going to share more in the coming weeks, and a whole lot more in my first book, but here’s a quick gut health checklist to get you started:

1. Make sure you’re getting enough fiber, including insoluble fiber. These fibers are what the good bacteria in your small intestine like to feed on.
2. Eat fermented foods like yogurt and sauerkraut, because they contain healthy bacteria that can replenish your gut microbiome. This is especially true if you’ve taken antibiotics, which can affect the balance of your gut bacteria.
3. Avoid processed foods and sugar. The bad bacteria like to feed on these.
4. Cut stress. Meditate, journal, or go outside for some fresh air. There’s a direct connection (your vagus nerve) between your brain and your gut, each affecting the other.
5. Get regular exercise. The more active you are, the happier your gut microbiome is.
6. Get enough sleep. When your sleep is disrupted so are the good bacteria in your microbiome - and vice versa.

It’s amazing how everything works together! Making small changes in these areas is a great way to start to take control of your gut health now. 

For more tips, grab my free, updated Gut Health Guide, complete with recipes! 

Reference:  https://www.gutmicrobiotaforhealth.com/about-gut-microbiota-info/