When it comes to our guts, we know that everyone’s different, meaning it’s sometimes hard to work out if everything’s hunky dory down there.
We know that keeping our guts healthy often involves a careful combination of a balanced diet, regular exercise, quitting the cigs and cutting down on booze, and making sure we’re not exposing ourselves to too much stress.
But sometimes it feels like you’re taking all the right steps, only to be left with a bloat to rival even the biggest beer belly.
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According to one expert, this is just one of several ‘serious’ symptoms that you should ‘never ignore’.
Nutritionist Chloe Williams (@eunoiawellness_) regularly shares advice online about your gut.
In one of her latest videos, she listed a number of warning signs you might get from your guy, calling on followers to ‘pay attention’.
“These are seven gut symptoms you should never, ever ignore,” Williams said. “These are all serious indicators of potential gut health problems."
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Spit test
“First things first: if you spit into a cup of water immediately upon waking up and you have strings hanging down in the water, this can be an indicator that you have something called Candida, which is a yeast overgrowth,” Williams began, adding that ‘some practitioners swear by this’.
She warned that this particular test was ‘not rooted in science’, but claimed her other points are.
Bloating immediately after breakfast
Williams said that, if you wake up, eat your breakfast and ‘bloat immediately’, this can be an indicator of small intestinal bacteria overgrowth, or SIBO.
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“SIBO occurs when there is excess bacteria up in the small intestine that are fermenting your food,” she said.
“Just like a piece of fruit that is left rotting, this going to lead to excess gas and a lot of discomfort like bloat right after you eat."
Excessive bloating and heartburn
Williams continued: “On the other hand, if you wake up feeling great about yourself and then by the end of the day you feel like you look nine months pregnant, this is a really good indicator of low stomach acid.
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“I’m actually gonna pair this one up with frequent heartburn. If you are someone who has heartburn frequently, this is also an indicator that you actually have low stomach acid.
“The problem with heartburn is that everyone who has heartburn is always reaching for something like Tums or some kind of acid suppressor, when in reality you actually don’t have enough stomach acid. So you’re actually contributing to the problem and making it worse long term.
“I highly recommend taking two teaspoons of apple cider vinegar first thing in the morning within 15 minutes of waking, mixed with some hot water, it will help to increase the amount of hydrochloric acid that you have in your body available to break down your food.”
Stomach pain after eating
According to Williams if you feel like 'everything you are eating is giving you a stomach ache', it's 'probably because you have a leaky gut, and are developing food insensitivities to the foods you are eating'.
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She explained: "Food that you are eating is supposed to pass through into your bloodstream in tiny little micronutrient particles, but if you have leaky gut, then the holes in your gut – kinda like a sponge – are becoming much bigger and so whole chunks of food are able to seep through.
"Say you eat a banana, a chunk of banana should not be ending up in your bloodstream, and since you have a really good robust defence system, it’s going to freak out. It’s going to flag it, and it sure as hell is going to remember it for the next time you eat it.
"The next time you eat it, your system is going to activate and it is going to cause some sort of symptom, often resulting in stomach pain, constipation, fatigue, bloating. Alcohol, medication, processed foods, stress – these things are all going to continue to make these holes wider."
She said her 'entire practice' involves helping people repair this gut lining, warning that you 'cannot overcome these symptoms unless you work to repair your gut lining first'.
White tongue
If you have a 'white coating' on your tongue, this is a 'really good sign' that you have candida overgrowth, Williams said.
"You have this symptom, I’m willing to bet you also have constipation, some kind of acne, food sensitivity, fatigue and a whole lot of cravings for sugar," she went on.
"Also lots of joint pain and serious mood swings or anxiety.”
She also claimed some weight loss/diabetes treatment and birth control can contribute to this, adding: "So, ladies, just be on the watch out.”
Type 1/2 stool
Williams said we should be 'striving for number four' on the Bristol Stool Chart, which classifies stools into seven categories, with the NHS saying number four is 'like a sausage or snake, smooth and soft'.
"This is perfect, this tells you that you have optimal digestion and not too much to be worried about in terms of the bowel movement department," Williams said.
“If you are having type one or a type two here, these are telling me that there is probably some kind of dehydration going on. There is something going on in the gut for sure. Again, these can be related to an overgrowth of Candida. This could be related to low stomach acid.
"This is also a problem that needs to be addressed because if we don't eliminate the toxins that are in our body then they are going to recirculate through our bloodstream."
Topics: Health, Food and Drink, TikTok
Jess Hardiman