Welcome to the Gut Health Course _Final
0 (0 Likes / 0 Dislikes)
>> Welcome to the Gut Health Course.
I'm so excited to be taking off
on this journey with you.
Over the next several months,
we're going to explore
just about everything
there is to know about gut health.
We have so much great information in store for you.
In this lecture, we'll go over
the most basic Fundamentals,
and I'll walk you through
and overview of what's to come.
Now let's start at the very beginning.
What exactly does gut health mean?
And what does a healthy gut feel like?
Is a healthy gut an absence of gas,
bloating, heartburn
or other symptoms related to digestion?
What about brain fog?
Lack of focus, headaches, skin issues?
At the root, these symptoms
can be a sign of a deeper gut issue.
As it turns out, the gut may contribute
to many common symptoms
and general malaise.
On the flipside, a healthy gut
seems to also be at the foundation
of vibrancy and optimal health.
Let's go over some staggering facts.
There are over 170 diseases
that have been connected to gut health.
Does that sound gut-wrenching?
Over 70 million people in the US alone
have some type of digestive disease.
These include irritable bowel disease,
diverticulitis, celiac disease, Crohn's,
clostridium difficile or C. diff,
just to name a few.
In fact, 90% of all disease can be
traced back to an unhealthy gut.
For example, allergies, asthma,
diabetes, cancer, Alzheimer's,
heart disease, autoimmune disease,
and arthritis, the list goes on.
There are many symptoms that can result
from a gut health imbalance
such as, chronic fatigue,
adrenal fatigue, skin issues,
brain fog, hormones, low libido,
mood swings, anxiety, depression,
headaches, and eczema.
It's overwhelming how many maladies
and diseases in the body originate
in the gut.
Chronic disease is on the rise,
and obesity is an epidemic.
We're hearing more and more instances
of gut disturbances
whether they're the root cause
or a symptom of a larger problem.
How many of you have seen clients
who've had a gut health
or digestive issues?
Has that number grown?
And how often have you found
that another issue such as skin
or immunity or blood sugar is related
to a client's diet or digestion?
It looks like Hippocrates
was right in saying
that all disease begins in the gut.
And it also looks like our modern life
is wreaking havoc on our intestines.
So what exactly is the gut
and why is it so important?
On a basic level,
the gut is where we take in and process
all aspects of our food,
everything from the enzymes
that appear the moment we smell
food cooking to proper digestion
and assimilation of the nutrients
from the food we eat.
The gut is the place where we break down
that food into information our body
can utilize such as fats, proteins,
carbs, sugars, but it plays
a much larger role than digestion.
Did you know the gut also helps develop
the immune system right from birth?
It's the largest endocrine organ
secreting over 30 hormones,
and it has its own brain,
meaning it can operate
completely independent
of your other bring, you know,
the one in your skull.
As it turns out, the gut impacts
nearly every other system
and organ in our body.
The gut plays a large role
in our immunity,
hormone regulation, blood sugar,
and even the health of our brain.
Now that's some food for thought.
The gut is actually called
the second brain
because it has more neurons
than the spinal cord.
This seems to imply that the gut
has much larger function
than just digestion.
Your gut and your first brain
are in constant communication,
the gut passes signals
along to the brain and vice versa.
It alerts the brain
of any potential stress or danger,
your gut is your largest sensory organ,
and it's communicating information
to you all the time.
Think of your gut as the gatekeeper,
even though it's technically
inside your body, the gut determines
what enters your body
from the outside world.
It decides what gets let in
and what should be kept out.
Imagine a time when hygiene
or sanitation wasn't widespread,
before doctors washed their hands
with anti-bacterial soap,
and when we didn't slather our children
in anti-bacterial hand gel.
Pathogens and bacteria
were found everywhere.
The gut's job was to make sure
that you didn't get food poisoning
or catch a bug from your neighbor
or swallow a parasite
from unclean water.
And that's why 80% of your immune system
resides in your gut.
In Eastern medicine, the gut is known
as the seed of the soul
or the power source.
However, many of us especially
in the West haven't given much thought
to our guts other than a place
that food goes in and comes out
or maybe what we refer to
as the extra weight around the center,
the gut that we get from
too much cortisol or beer.
In this course, we'll provide you
with the physiology of the gut,
but you'll also learn that
it's much more
than just a bunch of hollow tubes.
By the end, you'll understand
how the gut is essential
to optimal health.
You'll be able to help your clients
connect the dots
between their gut health
and other issues that at first
may seem totally unrelated.
We'll explore Chinese, Ayurvedic,
and Greek perspectives on gut health,
and how these may have
changed over time.
We'll also offer guidance around diet,
herbs, supplements,
and lifestyle choices
that can help you and your clients
feel better,
better than maybe you knew was possible.
You'll hear stories of people
who changed their diet
and therefore were able
to change their mood.
I mentioned earlier
how the got affects brain health.
Well, current research is showing
that the gut directly affects
our emotions, behaviors, and decisions.
Let's stop and reflect for a moment.
Grab a pen and paper
and start reflecting
on your own gut health.
Sit still for a moment and just tune in.
What do you notice
in your gut right now?
By gut, we mean stomach
or that general area.
Anything?
Full from a meal, gurgling, nerves?
When you're done,
jot down below what you ate last
and a few of the major things going on
in your life right now.
Are there any stressful situations
at work or at home?
Do you have any lingering to-dos
or maybe a conversation
with someone you'd like to clean up?
Any big events or meetings
on the horizon?
Pause the lecture now.
How did that go?
Does it look like there might be
a connection between what's going on
in your life and what's going on
in your gut?
Our guts are full of information.
Think about how often we hint
at gut feelings
and everyday conversation,
"I have butterflies in my stomach.
I have a knot in my stomach."
But how often have we stopped
to really think about
where these sayings originate,
what do we really know about the gut?
It digests our food,
but what about our thoughts?
Given how much we refer to it,
on some level,
we probably had a gut instinct
that our intestines
were up to much more.
Another thought, the healthier the gut,
perhaps the healthier our instincts.
I encourage you to start tracking
your gut feelings throughout the day.
You may find it helpful to use
the handout in this module
called gut feelings.
And remember to keep us updated
in the Facebook group
about any interesting insights
you uncover.
In this course as we explore
more in depth how the gut receives
impressions and communicates
with the brain,
we'll uncover the science
behind the ancient wisdom
and the saying, "Go with your gut."
And we'll discuss why so many of us
due to our current lifestyle
have lost that connection to our gut
and inner wisdom.
Richard Branson,
founder of the Virgin Group
which owns over 400 companies,
once said, "I rely far more on gut instinct
than researching huge amounts of statistics."
The wisdom of the gut holds true
to even the most powerful businessmen,
and probably even to how you run
your health coaching practice.
As you learned
in the health coach training program,
the body is an inter-connected system.
Consider the gut
as the central operating system.
And literally
and perhaps metaphorically,
if we listen to hypocrites
that death lurks in the intestines
and bad digestion
is the root of all evil,
then it makes sense
that optimal health starts there too.
In this course,
we'll cover a little history
and various perceptions of the gut,
from old beliefs to modern.
And we'll look at
when it was common practice
to cut out part of the colon
to the modern day impact
of antibiotics and overuse
of anti-bacterial products.
We'll also define common diagnoses
and gut disturbances in the Western,
Eastern, and alternative medicine
like Cboe, Candida, leaky gut,
and we'll teach you a few ways
you can help assess your clients
from within your scope of practice
including resources you can offer them
when they want to dive deeper.
Lastly, we'll also explore
what we're now calling
the forgotten organ,
the bacteria in the gut.
More on that to come.
Right now, we're living in a time
where gut health is garnering
a lot of attention, and for good reason.
The general public is starting to catch
on the gut health not only as a thing
but it's a thing that matters.
You've picked a great time
to be a Health Coach
specializing in this field.
To recap, an increasing amount
of research has linked gut health
to various chronic conditions,
and many believe it to be the foundation
of our health and well-being.
Looks like ancient wisdom is proving to be true,
the gut is our power source
and may hold the key to health
that we've all been seeking.
So what is gut health?
Well, the definition is still evolving,
but by the end of this course,
we hope you'll have a better understanding
of what gut health means to you.
Thank you so much for joining us.
See you soon.