How Gut Health Affects Mental Health

The Fitness Nutritionists

That post-holiday grind often brings with it the blues, a bout of anxiety, or at times even depression. There are a lot of ways to minimize or combat stress, but today, we’ll be tackling this all-too-common issue from the point of view of gut health and how it relates to mental health.

Both our physical and mental wellness depend largely on our gut. Since many of us tend to eat a lot of not-so-healthy foods and drinks throughout the holiday season, we end up exposing ourselves to the many negative effects of poor gut health.

Listen in as we dive deep into the bidirectional relationship between our brain and our gut before answering our listener question of the week!

In this episode, we talk about…

• [01:35] What to expect on the podcast in 2022.
• [03:53] Gut health and mental health.
• [05:27] The importance of gut bacteria/flora/microbiota.
• [08:37] How obesity changes the bacteria in the gut.
• [11:46] Our central nervous system versus our enteric nervous system.
• [13:05] How our gut and our brain communicate with each other.
• [15:20] The chemicals that regulate our mood.
• [19:14] The common thread between different studies on gut health and depression.
• [23:52] Answering our question of the week.

Resources mentioned:

• The Fitness Nutritionists Podcast Episode 5: What is Inflammation & Does Diet Play a Role?
• The Fitness Nutritionists Podcast Episode 1: 10 Factors That Influence Your Health & Weight
• Altered Composition of Gut Microbiota in Depression: A Systematic Review

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