As you may have guessed gut health is near and dear to my heart. Years ago as I lay in bed scrolling on IG one evening, I stumbled across a post of what looked like a bunch of worms packed inside someone’s intestines. My stomach flipped. It was not the first rattling post I had seen regarding the human body but something about the image stuck with me. From that point forward, I began to explore nutrition on a much deeper level. I knew one thing for sure, food will either heal you or harm you. As a maturing young adult, my only rationale was to get my gut in gear and dedicate my free time to learning how to care for my body, mind, and spirit correctly. As I began to learn more about healing foods, I quickly grew knowledgeable about the gut-brain connection which opened up a whole new can of worms (no pun intended)

Gut health experts like Dr. Natasha Campbell-Mcbride describes the digestive system as either a major source of nourishment or a major source of toxicity affecting every other bodily function. She states “The body works as a whole: whatever affects the brain and causes mental symptoms is at the same time affecting other organs in the body, which in turn respond with their own uncomfortable symptoms.” Here is where we get transparent. As I grew out of adolesence I began to notice drastic changes in my mood just before my monthly period, impacting my relationships with family and friends. After learning PMDD and various other hormonal disorders ran in my family, I accepted that anxiety and depression would be something I would have to routinely have to manage. Traditionally mental health disorders like anxiety and depression have been treated chemically to prevent the reabsorption of serotonin making it stay in the body system longer. The fact of the matter is that about 95% of serotonin and about 50% of dopamine is produced in the gut meaning that if the gut becomes imbalanced it will surly negatively impact the body’s chemical makeup agitating mental disorders like anxiety and depression.

Desperate for relief I decided to treat my PMS at the gut level. I began taking a skin probiotic and multi-vitamin by LOVE Wellness for mood support. The Clear Skin probiotic, made with the bacterial strain Bifidobacterium longum was what I started first. The first time taking the capsule I felt fine with a small amount of food in my stomach. The next morning I quickly swallowed a capsule before eating anything at all. Within an hour I was violently throwing up and doubled over in pain. You may be assuming this is where I stopped the supplement but my rationale at the time told me that my empty stomach was to blame. From that day forward I would take both the probiotic and multi-vitamin after breakfast with no issue. I was almost three weeks into taking the supplements when I noticed how much lighter I felt emotionally. I could certainly tell that the additional supplementation was having a positive affect on me and my skin until I noticed my stool become quite loose. At first I thought it was odd considering I had been consuming a fair amount of fiber but nothing pointed directly to the supplements. After a week of loose stools I grew severely constipated with accompanying stomach pain. I felt like a rock was sitting at the top of my abdomen. With the only new implementation being the supplements I have since discontinued using them until my symptoms resolve.

The LOVE Wellness line makes claims their Daily Love Multivitamin is made with biologically active forms of nutrients and enteric coating to support proper digestion and absorption, which leads me to think my tummy issues could be resulting from stress and or inflammation. Overall I felt emotionally supported by the vitamin and I am no way certain that the supplements caused the irritabal bowel syndrome (IBS) but for now I turn my attention to probiotic rich foods and pre-biotic fiber to support my microbiome as it shifts back into balance. In closing, Supplemtation can be a very useful tool to support to your gut health but many supplements do not come in the correct biochemical form for the body to use. Dr. Natasha Campbell is one of the leading gut health experts of today and created the GAPS diet for people who suffer from mild to severe digestive disorders. For the next 3 days I will be implementing the GAPS liquid fast, which is aimed at healing the gut lining and restoring useful gut bacteria through meat stock, brine from fermented veggies, herbal teas, and apple cider vinegar/lemon drinking water. I’ll keep you all posted with updates via my Instagram stories. Wish me luck!

Let me know in the comments what supplements have worked for you!!