Hello lovely readers,
It is almost that time of year- SPRING. Just kidding. Where I live, spring won’t be around for like another month or so….
BUT let’s jump into a quick update BEFORE I get into you gut immunity.
- I have my 8 week colonoscopy Wednesday. We finally get to see if the drug is working or if I was even on the drug. Hopefully this also means that I get to wean off prednisone (lord I hope so)
- I may or may not have kidney stones. Apparently common to get when you have been on prednisone for awhile. It would explain my extreme pain. I did an ultra sound Friday, just waiting for the results
So yeah, expect an update Thursday or Friday! Maybe I’ll be even bold enough to try for Wednesday. But no promises.
BUT NOW FOR THE REAL TALK
Your gut’s immunity.
Most people when they think about their immunity don’t actually think about their gut. I know for myself, when I learnt about my immune system, I just pictured these cells free floating in my body. But did you know it is estimated that about 70-80% of you immune tissues are actually situated in your digestive tract? That’s more than half all hanging out! Your gut is actually so so important in determining the rest of your body’s health. How?
Well your gut bacteria helps release white blood cells known as your t-cells and b-cells. These are your fighter cells that combat anything that basically shouldn’t be there (way more complicated than this explanation, but thats the jist of it). But the bacteria in your gut also helps TEACH these cells what to do. Bacteria in your gut will teach your t-cells how to develop and teach them the difference between foreign substances and our own tissue. This is a huge responsibility because it basically determines how and what our immune system will react to. And research has shown that this process starts in infancy!
So where does the problem come in?
Something called “leaky gut”. Leaky gut develops when the integrity of our gut is compromised. Part of our guts job on top of everything else it does is to regulate what particles pass through the intestinal lining to the rest of our body. Leaky gut is when these “gates” are faulty and allow unwanted substances through. As such, our immune system triggers and treats them as invaders or foreign. When they begin attacking these foreign entities, this triggers an inflammation response in our bodies.
Leaky gut has been shown in research to be linked to other health conditions such as
- Crohns
- MS
- Eczema
- Arthritis
- Migraines
- Psoriasis
- Depression
A healthy gut has even been shown to help combat the common cold and flu, which around this time of year is super important! So love your gut a little extra. You don’t need to have IBS or IBD to care about your gut- everyone should care about it! We all have a unique bacteria combination in our gut, so build on that and learn how to help support these bacterias!
I can provide some ideas as to how to build this in another post, but currently I am still taking the time to do my research on this!
Love Bee
Sources:
Oregon State University: Gut microbes closely linked to range of health issues (2013).
Science Daily: Gut microbes closely linked to proper immune function, other health issues (2013).
shitsandgiggleswithb.com 