Over the past decade, "gut health” has become a major fad alongside an unprecedented rise in food intolerances, bloating, discomfort, and related autoimmune diseases. When I first became gluten-free over a decade ago, options were severely limited; today, there are entire aisles of gluten-free products in stores, probiotic-enhanced foods are all the buzz, and the supplement industry is booming.

So why do so many people still feel unwell?

I see two missing links in the typical discourse around gut health.

(1) Our industrial food systems are destroying our planet and our health.

The epidemic of gut health problems mirror the larger challenges of our food systems under capitalism.

Environmentally, we are struggling with biodiversity loss, climate change, and resistant pests that are destabilizing global food systems. The soil microbiome (yes, this is a thing) and gut microbiome are directly connected. Our soils have been destroyed by decades of industrial farming and widespread use of pesticides like glyphosate, impacting the health of millions of people. At the same time, our bodies are increasingly being polluted by things like antibiotics, hormones, and microplastics that are found in our environments and food products.

From an economic perspective, the drive for profit under capitalism has given us a plethora of false choice as consumers. Major food corporations own 80% of products in an average American supermarket. Alternative brands that try to provide clean options for consumers get acquired and slowly dismantled as ingredients are switched out for cheaper options. It is becoming harder to go to a supermarket and know what is actually real food.

These macro-level factors set the stage for the imbalances we experience as individuals, but they are often looked over by the medical system. You may have been to a doctor who told you that it’s your fault that you are experiencing all these problems, treated one symptom without considering the others, or one who simply gave you a pill that temporarily masked a few symptoms, without ever getting to the root of the problem.

It is no surprise that an estimated 70% of Americans have some sort of gut imbalance with recurrent symptoms.

The beautiful thing about connecting systemic and individual factors is that it helps us recognize what is in our control and focus on those things. It also reinforces the understanding that these problems are not your fault, but generated by a system designed to profit off our sickness. When we make this connection, we can not only begin to heal ourselves, but also pave the foundation for a healthier community around us.

(2) Your gut is intricately interconnected with not just the outside environment, but also your mind, nervous system, and emotions.

The gut holds 90% of the body’s serotonin, so gut imbalance often presents alongside mental health issues like depression, anxiety, low self-worth, and feeling energetically depleted. Modern lifestyle factors like stress directly impact the diversity of our microbiome: as long as we remain in a constant state of ‘fight or flight’, we cannot properly digest, rest, and receive. This is hard when we are bombarded by negative news everyday and live with extremely high pressure to perform. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, gut health issues are connected to the Spleen, the organ considered to be in charge of digestion as well as the act of giving and receiving and emotions like fear/worry and joy/empowerment. Healing these energetic boundaries can be a key missing link in healing the gut’s own protective barrier.

My approach to fixing imbalances like Candida, Leaky Gut, SIBO, IBS, burnout, and hormone issues focuses on identifying and healing stress and emotional and energetic imbalances in our lives.

If you are needing this holistic perspective in your life, check out my ‘Love Your Gut’ Program