Healthy bowel

Ahealthy bowel will protect and support your immune system. It will produce digestive enzymes to increase absorption of food. It will also assist you in taking in the nutrients you need. Furthermore, it will guard your bloodstream from absorbing toxins, bacteria and undigested food. Food will pass quickly through the intestinal track and be swiftly excreted before it has a chance to ferment or become toxic in any way. People with healthy bowel tend to have high energy, good digestion and sleep well at night.

If you suffer from poor digestive health, it is likely that you are also experiencing frequent periods of tiredness. Getting the bowel back into health could be one of the most important parts of your journey towards recovery.

Why bowel becomes unhealthy

The bowel is sometimes considered the most important organ in the body. The condition of the bowel will determine and reflect our general state of health. If you are suffering from chronic tiredness, it is very likely that your intestinal tract is not working as it should. In order to increase the chances of your recovery and to start getting better, it’s very important that you take care of your intestinal track. This may require some discipline in what you eat and some change of lifestyle habits, but the investment of time and effort will be repaid by increased health and vitality.

One of the major causes of poor bowel health is a medicine, which we have come to take for granted – antibiotics. Few of us remember the days before they were discovered when simple infections could be life-threatening. Antibiotics are necessary, but they have become over used. In addition, their routine use in livestock rearing has become so widespread that it is hard to avoid ingesting them. The problem with antibiotics is that they kill off ‘good’ bacteria as well as the ‘bad’ bacteria we want to be rid of. The intestinal tract needs the friendly ‘good’ bacteria to help it absorb the correct nutrients and keep toxins out of bloodstream.

Other causes of poor bowel condition include the widespread use of steroids and the contraceptive pill. Steroids, like antibiotics, were developed in the 1940s and hailed as wonder drugs. They are effective against arthritis, allergies and inflammation. Unfortunately, they worsen yeast infections as yeast has receptors on it which attract cortisone.
The contraceptive pill creates changes in the mucus membrane of the vagina, which fosters Candida. If Candida also overgrows in the intestinal tract, it can cause serious problems.

Other causes of bowel illnesses are some of the substances we have become used to in modern day living. The general availability of sugar, for example, has not had a good effect on the health of humankind. Sugar feeds infections, as well as lowers the resistance of the immune system. Another important culprit in the bowel health story are processed foods. Almost all of them contain a variety of chemicals, which are not found in nature and to which are bodies are not used to. They can create allergic and toxic reactions which will stress the body still further.

The major bowel disorders are:

• IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome) – more common in women than in men. The syndrome can take several forms. The main symptoms are constipation, diarrhea, wind, gas, malaise and pain.
• Malabsorption and Leaky Gut Syndrome – this is where vital nutrients are not absorbed and toxins and undigested food particles are allowed to pass into the bloodstream.
• Candida – this is a yeast infection/overgrowth, which disturbs the ability of the intestinal tract to process food.
• Dysbiosis of the Gut- the term for the dysfunctional processes of the bowel, including malabsorption, leaky gut and fermentation.

[Please seeBowel disorders that cause tirednessandCandida and fatiguefor details.]

How to restore your bowel to full health

Without doubt, one of the best ways to restore your intestinal tract to good health is to reverse some of the worst practices of the modern world. This means becoming aware of:

• Antibiotics – avoid them whenever it’s possible. In a life-threatening or serious situation, they are quite literally a godsend, but don’t take them for trivial reasons or when there’s an alternative. Try not to take them for too long. Some teenagers are prescribed several years of them to control acne, for example. It’s better to find other ways to control chronic situations. If you must take antibiotics, however, make sure you take a probiotic to counter them.
• Cortisone – avoid or reduce ingesting this medication.
• Contraceptive pill – explore other options for birth-control.
• Avoid sugar as much as possible as this creates a breeding ground for Candida.
• Eat more vegetables, raw or cooked.
• Try to eat organic food as much as possible as it doesn’t contain antibiotics.
• Avoid all processed food since additives can seriously contribute to poor bowel health.

To sum up

Intestinal tract problems contribute to or actually cause fatigue. Bowel health is worth the time and the effort you may have to put into creating it.