Many of us are beginning to cheat on sleep through no fault of ours. As the year draws to a close and it dawns on you that you have spent more mon­ey than you should have, and as the extremely “long” January stares at you, a myriad of things happen to your gut, blood pressure and stress levels but be rest assured that whatever your gut feeling is at this moment is likely to be the truth.

You surely have come across the phrase “go with your gut feeling” and many times we consider that to be our instincts, but the gut, which is the full path that swallowed food travels may be much smarter than we think. It has even been referred to as the “second brain” in some instances.

That uncomfortable feeling in your stomach when you are running late yet stuck in traffic, butterflies in your stomach when you meet that special someone or as you get ready for a critical presentation. We can’t leave out the burning sensation in your chest when you realise you left out a whole examination question just five minutes to time. Our guts have a way of reflecting our moods or emotions sometimes long before we are aware of what is going on.

Our guts call the shots when we are under stress or even feel depressed; the reaction varies in people though. Some people may eat a lot while under stress and others may just shy away from even water. So the next time you find yourself consistently eating more or less than you normally do, take a step back and find out if you have more on your plate than you can handle. Prioritise and manage your time better and you may be able to relieve yourself of undue stress.

That sharp hunger pang you experience is a warning from your gut that your blood sugar is running low. You either listen to your gut or soon you may be sweating, shaking, feeling dizzy and even collapse. You may even lose your life if appropri­ate help does not come soon. This scenario is aggravated in diabetics on certain medication.

Many people with peptic ulcer disease will tell you of their strug­gles with or without meals. Some will also enlighten you on factors that make their pain worse such as certain pain medication, spices, caffeine, fizzy drinks and acidic fruits. The list is endless.

Healthy bacteria even exist nat­urally in the gut and are protective but when these good bacteria are reduced because of a poor diet or inappropriate use of antibiotics, our gut health and general well-being plummet. This is a warning from our gut to check our health. Diarrhoea is one of the numerous ways it will react till we give it the attention it deserves. Stop self-medication!!

I have read very little on appro­priate diet for people of different blood groups. I am not a proponent of this trend because I have not read adequately on the subject but also for the simple reason that our GUT is very smart and if we listen to it closely it will react appropriately whenever we take the “wrong” foods and overtime we can exclude foods our bodies cannot tolerate. Remem­ber we are all unique. For now stick to a balanced diet with variety and moderation and definitely watch your portions and meal and snack times. Snacking in itself is not bad, it’s what we snack on that causes all the trouble. Snacking on a fruit or vegetable salad for instance is not in the same league with a snack of butter cookies laced with milk chocolate.

When your gut is unhappy with what you load it with, it may warn you in several ways including;

• “Heart Burns”

• Bloating

• Gas

• Constipation

• Diarrhoea

In diarrhoea, the body may be re­acting to a virus, parasite or bacteria in contaminated food or water but diarrhoea that is long standing may be pointing to something that requires a closer look.

In general for good gut health, eat well with a focus on plant based foods with fibre, drink ade­quate amount of water, get regu­lar exercise to enhance movement of food through the digestive system, make time to relax and de-stress and sometimes together with your doctor you may decide to add a probiotic.

AS ALWAYS LAUGH OFTEN, EN­SURE HYGIENE, WALK AND PRAY EVERYDAY AND REMEMBER IT’S A PRICELESS GIFT TO KNOW YOUR NUMBERS (blood sugar, blood pres­sure, blood cholesterol, BMI)

Dr. Kojo Cobba Essel

Health Essentials Ltd/ Mobissel

(dressel@healthessentialsgh. com)

*Dr. Essel is a medical doctor, holds an MBA and is ISSA certified in exercise therapy, fitness nutri­tion and corrective exercise. He is the author of the award-winning book, ‘Unravelling The Essentials of Health & Wealth.’

Thought for the week –“Christ­mas will come and go every year, but indulging in excesses may have long-term effects on your health and pocket.”

References:

1. Unravelling the Essentials of Health & Wealth; Dr. Kojo Cobba Essel

2. Remedy’s Healthy Living: “should you trust your gut?”

By Dr. Kojo Cobba Essel