THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO YOUR GUT
DECADE AGO, Kaitlyn, a 28-year-old
support worker living in Ontario,
Canada, became very ill. She had
painful constipation, was contracting
fevers and losing weight. “If I ate too
much, I would vomit,” she says.
After tests ruled out Crohn’s disease
and colitis, Kaitlyn’s family doctor
diagnosed her with irritable bowel
syndrome (IBS), a chronic disorder that
causes cramping, pain, and bloating
along with constipation or diarrhoea.
While IBS can’t be cured, it can be
managed through lifestyle changes. A
dietitian suggested to Kaitlyn that the
bacteria that lived in her intestines—
collectively known as the gut
microbiome—might be out of balance,
contributing to her condition. She
recommended that Kaitlyn take
probiotics—pills that contain specific
strains of bacteria—to help put things
in order.
After only a few days of taking the
probiotics, Kaitlyn felt a lot better. “The
pain and fevers went away, and I was
able to eat without getting sick,” she
says. She still needed to avoid specific
foods that trigger her condition, but
gained back some of the weight she
had lost.
The state of our gut microbiome
impacts many facets of our physical
and mental health. But what is it,
exactly? Imagine a jar of fermented
food, like sauerkraut, which is full
of bacteria. The bacteria that already
live on the cabbage flourish when
it’s covered in brine and sealed. In
that oxygen-deprived space, those
bacteria break down the food’scomponents—eg, carbohydrates—and
release acid, which gives sauerkraut
its tangy flavour. A similar process
happens inside your intestines every
time you eat: bacteria break the food
down, transforming it into crucial
vitamins, amino acids, chemicals,
and, yes, gas.
All those bacteria start colonising
you the minute you’re born. You pick
up more bacterial strains from breast
milk, your home, the environment
outside, contact with other people, the
food you eat, and even the family dog.
By the age of three, your microbiome
has pretty much settled into how it will36 • DECEMBER 2021
LIKE ANY THRIVING
ECOSYSTEM, YOUR GUT
IS HEALTHY WHEN IT
HAS A DIVERSITY
OF BACTERIA