Your Gut, Your Immune System

The research is showing more and more how important gut health becomes in protecting our immune system. Especially in those living with chronic diseases like diabetes or chronic kidney disease, the gut cell lining can become weakened over time, because chronic disease is often accompanied by chronic inflammation. When the body is trying to defend itself against infection, the gut lining, which has many immune cells, starts going into over-drive. This results in more toxins being produced in the body, which can actually worsen disease outcomes over time.

One of the main aspects of nutrition I work on with clients is how to increase both pre-and probiotics in their diet - this means that both fibre (prebiotic) and fermented foods (probiotics) are important (examples of probiotics include yogurt, kefir, kombucha, tempeh, kimchi, and sauerkraut). Together, pre- and probiotics help to recolonize the gut with the beneficial bacteria needed to fend off infection and poor digestive health in general.

Most of us do not get adequate fibre in our diet - for fibre sources, I suggest checking out Dietitians of Canada’s Fibre Fact Sheet.