Hey, guys. Dr. Axe here, doctor of natural medicine and founder of draxe.com. Hey, in
this video I'm going to be talking about gut health and some of unexpected things that
you might be consuming or doing that is absolutely wrecking and destroying your gut health, your
digestive health. And remember this, 70% of your immune system is located in your gut.
So if you're doing these things it could also put you at risk for autoimmune issues and
conditions like leaky gut syndrome which is related to a number of other issues especially
autoimmune problems. Let's dive right in. Number one thing that
can absolutely wreck your gut is taking NSAIDs, that's non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications.
You want to stay completely away from these. The good news is, there are completely natural
things that can reduce inflammation or help with chronic pain like Bromalin, different
types of proteolytic enzymes, fish oil, turmeric, curcumin, and frankincense. NSAIDs have actually
been shown to cause intestinal bleeding and is one of the top 20 killers in America today.
Did you know that again, medications are one of the top killers in the entire world today,
in fact it kills as many people as cancer and heart disease on a regular basis. So NSAIDs
have been linked to kidney failure, liver failure, and GI bleeding. Stay away. Those
will absolutely wreck your gut. Number two is antibiotics, now antibiotics
not only kill the bad bacteria, they kill the good bacteria in your gut which is a massive
part of your immune system. This is why this will shock you that when somebody takes a
round of antibiotics it actually increases the risk of cancer. We might say how could
an antibiotic increase your risk in cancer? Seventy percent of your immune system is in
your gut. When you kill off probiotics and good bacteria in your gut it weakens your
immune system. When your immune system gets weakened it makes you more susceptible to
cancer, to fungal infections, candida, and a number of other chronic health issues. So
antibiotics are probably like I call them the A-bomb, it's like dropping an atomic bomb
in your gut and can destroy all of the good microbes that you've built up since birth.
So again, stay away from these prescription antibiotics.
Now here's something that might surprise you. Not 80-plus percent of the antibiotics prescribed
are given today are not given to humans, they're given to animals. So if you're buying and
using conventional meat products, conventional beef for instance and conventional chicken,
you're getting loads and loads of antibiotics in your diet on a daily basis and you don't
even know if there's antibiotic residue. Same goes for conventional dairy products, loaded
with antibiotics and steroids. Stay completely away.
If you're going to do dairy or meat products make sure you are going organic, certified
organic and wild for those. But again antibiotics of all the things on this list probably the
most damaging to your overall gut health. And by the way, if you have ever experienced
any of the issues on this list with antibiotics, post that right now in the YouTube comment
section. We'd love to know if you have any advice here or comments on this.
Now number three in antibacterial soap. Here's the truth, antibiotics are everywhere. A good
replacement, now antibacterial soaps contain a compound called triclosan which has been
linked to liver failure. It actually damages your liver and causes toxicity. Instead use
essential oils, use natural soaps instead. But again, even these things that you get
on your hands and skin, did you know your skin is your largest organ? When you put certain
things on your skin it can actually get into your bloodstream? So again, stay away from
those antibacterial soaps. Number four is excess alcohol, now I want
to give you a couple examples here. Number one, now listen, having one or two glasses
of red wine a week, totally and completely fine, you're getting some good resveratrol,
some antioxidants. In fact, even a little bit of alcohol like one glass of wine once
a week, can support circulation, can be okay for digestion.
But if you consume more than one glass of alcohol at a sitting or more than one glass
of wine, it starts to increase the overall toxicity in your body. Your liver has to deal
with it and so it's going to start causing inflammation, overburdening the liver. So
there is a number of side effects of over consuming alcohol.
I will say of all types of alcohol, hands down red wine is the best or a low sugar red
wine is the absolute best you can do. One of the side effects of beer is beer is so
high in yeast, it causes a lot of dampness in the body which can cause yeast candida
to overgrow in your body causing you to have yeast and then hard alcohol is again very
hard on the liver. So listen I'm not telling you never have alcohol, I'm just saying when
you go more than one single glass, especially of wine, that's when it starts to build up
and become very hard on your body and can even wreck your gut health.
Number five, food additives. If you're adding a lot of foods to your diet that are additives,
things when you read like yellow number 5 and blue number 40 and red 32, these dyes
and additives are super toxic to the body. A lot of other food additives as well, even
things that say certain types of flavorings, these will absolutely wreck and kill off microbes
in your gut, destroying your digestive health. Number six, chronic stress. This is a big
one, if you worry it can really affect your overall stomach and if you grieve and have
a lot of sadness or depression it actually will affect your colon and your intestine.
So again, chronic stress, worry, anxiety, fear, these things will destroy your health.
One of the things that happens is, think about this, if you have a bear running after you
it puts you in a sympathetic state. You can't really digest. Your body is using its sympathetic.
You want to be using your parasympathetic nerve system which if you ever really relaxed
or laughed and your body is able to secrete and digest better. So again, emotional stress
is one of the biggest things that will kill beneficial probiotics in your gut.
So again lowering stress. Here is the exercise to lower stress. Get out a sheet of paper,
do this on a computer, write down or type out the top ten things that are causing stress
in your life. And then figure out ways to deal with those or get them out of your life
and then write down the top ten things you would love to do that bring you joy. Maybe
it's lunch with a best friend, maybe it's hiking trails, maybe it's going and shopping
somewhere or going to see a certain seeing movie. Whatever it is, go and then implement
these things that help take your mind off things, things that reduce stress, add those
into your weekly routine. One other tip, I've had patients do this for
years and they've seen great results with actually improving their gut health and lowering
stress levels. Do a healing bath, one cup of Epsom salts, Epsom salts are high in the
relaxation mineral called magnesium. So one cup of Epsom salts and 20 drops of lavender
essential oil. Soak in the tub for 20 minutes at night. It's one of the greatest stress
relievers in the world and it can actually help lower stress and improve your gut health.
Number seven here are pesticides. These Roundup ready plants as well genetically modified
organisms you don't want to consume GMO foods. But these pesticides found in our food supply
have been proven and shown to kill off probiotics in your gut and damage what's termed your
micro biome of your digestive health. So again, always buying certified organic is the way
to go here. And number eight, lack of sleep. Not sleeping
enough, so if you're getting less than eight hours especially less than seven hours a night,
that will absolutely destroy gut health and increase cortisol levels at the same time.
Ideally, you're going to be going to bed before 11 and waking up of course, by about 7. So
listen if you go to bed at 10:30 and wake of at 6:30 or 6:00 that's totally fine. But
you never really want to get less than seven hours of sleep on a consistent basis because
it will absolutely destroy and wreck your gut health. In an ideal world you're getting
more than eight hours of sleep every single night and going to bed the earlier the better.
So remember, these are the biggest things that will destroy your gut health. Non-steroidal
anti-inflammatory drugs, antibiotics, antibacterial soaps, alcohol, food additives, chronic stress,
pesticides, lack of sleep. And if you really want to start healing your
gut, start consuming these foods every day. Number one, bone broth, get bone broth in
your diet, cooked vegetables you want to be getting in your diet every day, omega-3 fatty
acids you want to be getting in your diet every day, herbs in your diet daily such as
ashwagandha and licorice root is fantastic. And of course also doing some fruit like berries
can be great for your gut health. And actually, healthy oils too like coconut oil are good
options. But again, stay away from these gut wreckers and remember, Hippocrates said over
2000 years ago, all disease begins in your gut.
So if you can heal your gut, you can see things like your thyroid, your adrenals, your joints,
your immune system, all improve by healing your gut. If you've enjoyed this live training
video here on YouTube, make sure to click the Like button, if you've liked this video,
feel free to leave a comment. And also, make sure you subscribe here to my page. I have
a lot more videos coming out on how to heal the gut and how to use food as medicine.
And if you want to learn more about some of the articles I've written, I wrote an article
on leaky gut, I think would really benefit you. Just do a Google search for "Dr. Axe
leaky gut." You can find my article there on draxe.com. Thanks for watching.
Hi. Dr. Axe here. I want to say thanks so much for checking out this YouTube video.
And also, don't forget to subscribe if you want to get more great content on things like
herbs, essential oils, natural remedies, and how to use food as medicine. Also, check out
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