.jpg){kind=small}
Just before we had to stay at home this spring I presented at the Cafe of Life Chiropractic and Massage office here in Longmont, Colorado. If you haven't been there, you're missing out. Dr. Jessica Thompson has created a beautiful healing environment filled with fantastic people who love what they do. She is seeing clients again which is wonderful news!
So what is the #1 thing you can do for your health? That was the topic of my presentation, and as it turns out...drum roll please...it's making sure your gut is in tip-top shape! This is no surprise according to what the latest science is teaching us. Our guts control just about everything when it comes to being healthy and happy.
Hippocrates had it right over 2000 years ago. All disease begins in the gut, and what's on the end of our forks decides who we become and how we show up in the world every day. I personally find this very empowering. Many consider the next frontier in conventional and holistic medicine to be the gut as millions of dollars of research is being poured into this fascinating area.
So what health problems are connected to poor gut health? Pretty much everything you can think of including allergies, skin issues, gastrointestinal conditions, obesity, arthritis, fatigue, depression, anxiety, autism, Alzheimer's, multiple sclerosis, cancer, heart disease, etc., etc. You get the point.
The gut is the main focus of my practice because every single thing we do every moment of every day either promotes or degrades our "gut garden". This includes food especially as this is what "feeds" the millions of microbes within us. If they do not get what they need, then they do not have the tools in their toolbox to create health for us.
We can literally program ourselves to build health or sickness. Epigenetics is the study of how we have control over this "expression" of our genes towards disease or not.
Besides diet, other extremely powerful lifestyle choices form the foundation for robust gut function. These include proper sleep, movement, and stress management. In fact, stress is connected to the majority of doctor office visits, and in many experts opinions is second only to the foods we eat. All these things and more affect the ratio of "good vs bad bugs". You have vast control over this critical balance by the choices you make.
Lastly, our guts are intimately connected to brain health, and therefore things like depression and autism. Did you know that 95% of the serotonin we need to help regulate our mood is manufactured in our guts, not our brains? This is critical information to understand as neurological dysfunction has become another chronic health issue, especially in developed nations.
One of my favorite quotes reads, "The Groundwork of all Happiness is Health". No one has a monopoly on our health, it's up to each one of us (not our doctor) to own it. Like I tell my students all the time, it's hard to be happy if you aren't healthy because it affects everything you do in life.
To learn more about the guts connection to wellness, the Functional Health Coaching approach, and how I help my clients improve their health, please head to the links below to explore my website and Instagram Bio. I also offer a free 30-minute health consultation to discuss your dreams, challenges, goals, and to answer your questions.
Break-Free,
Bart Thurman, FDN-P, INHC, AFDNP
Functional Health Coaching
Cafe of Life Chiropractic
1325 Dry Creek Drive #307
Longmont, CO 80503
Office: 720-849-0124
Email: bart@breakfreewellness.net