{"id":3043,"date":"2019-05-15T03:08:25","date_gmt":"2019-05-15T03:08:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carolinehgroth.com.au\/?p=3043"},"modified":"2019-05-15T03:10:06","modified_gmt":"2019-05-15T03:10:06","slug":"gut-health-journey-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.carolinehgroth.com.au\/gut-health-journey-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"My Gut Health Journey Halfway Through 2019."},"content":{"rendered":"

Wow, I cannot believe that we’re almost halfway through 2019. Am I the only one who feels like this year has gone super quick? It feels as if the older I get, the quicker time goes? Maybe it’s because we get busier and busier, which isn’t necessarily a good thing if we forget ourselves a long the way and forget to stay present in the moment.<\/p>\n

Seeing we’re now mid-way through May, I wanted to update you all on my\u00a0Gut Health Journey\u00a0<\/strong>so far. You can read about my beginning right here<\/strong><\/a> if you haven’t read it already.<\/p>\n

For the last 6 months I’ve focused on healing my gut the natural way. I could take the ‘easy’ way out and go on antibiotics to ‘kill’ the bad bacteria in my stomach, but western medicine and treatment are part of the reasons as to why my gut has been ruined in the first place, so it hasn’t been an option I’d like to take.<\/p>\n

My motto has been “Food is Medicine” and in the last few months I’ve really realised how true this is. Coming from a past of disordered eating, this has really helped me understand even further that what we put\u00a0in\u00a0<\/strong>and\u00a0on<\/strong> our bodies plays a massive role in how we feel – emotionally, psychologically and physically.<\/p>\n

Through this journey, I’ve been confirmed even further in the fact that the gut\u00a0<\/strong>is the epicentre of our overall health and wellbeing. Everything originates from there, and chances are, if you have anything wrong with you, whether it’d be eczema, psoriasis, cystic acne, hormonal imbalances, mood swings, PMS, arthritis etc., there will be a link back to you gut microbiome<\/strong> and the state it’s in.<\/p>\n

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My first step has been an elimination diet to starve the bad bacteria in my gut and introduce foods that would promote good bacteria + a 500 billion\/day prescribed probiotics treatment. Again, you can read more about that here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

I was following this diet strictly for 8 weeks. Which, in the beginning was easier than what it became. As I wasn’t ‘allowed’ starchy vegetables, grains, dairy, gluten, fructose (fruit) or any sugar at all, it made it very hard to be social and eat out. As you all know, I’m a huge foodie and I eat out multiple times a week. I did find myself retracting quite a lot, and so I discussed these symptoms with my Nutritionist Katherine Hay to come up with a solution that would work for me and my gut, but without being so compromised.<\/p>\n

It was important for me to catch this early, as I do come from a disordered eating past and it can still play mind-tricks on me from time to time.<\/p>\n

Instead we agreed on that a little bit here and there was better than ruling it out completely for my mental health. It just meant that my gut-healing would take a little longer, but in the overall grand scheme of things, it didn’t matter.<\/p>\n

I genuinely\u00a0<\/strong>cannot express how amazing I felt on this ‘diet’. Cutting down on starchy vegetables, grains & bread (in particular), sugar and fructose made me feel a million bucks. I also quickly realised\u00a0how addicted\u00a0<\/strong>I was to sugar and this would go for most people. Without the bread and grains and heavy carbs my energy levels would rise and I wouldn’t feel so sluggish and tired like I used to.<\/p>\n

I want to summarise really efficiently what I’ve focused on the last few months:<\/p>\n