Addressing the 'IBS-Mental Health-Microbiome Triad' Among Student Athletes...and 3 Strategies to Improve It.
Diane Johnson
Empowering youth athletes with simple and strategic nutrition & wellness support.
Of late, I've had an eye-opening surge of student athletes and parents reaching out to me for support with a particular issue.?
Irritable Bowel Syndrome.?
I feel for these student athletes.
They are so tired of being in pain, feeling afraid to eat, needing to run to the bathroom, or not being able to go at all.
And I feel for their parents.
Wanting desperately to help their kids but unsure of what to do.
Truly, my heart goes out to all of them.
The interesting piece that came out of every one of these conversations with athletes and families about IBS, is that every single one of these young athletes was also dealing with anxiety and/or depression.
They didn't see correlations between the two.
But I do.?
(If you've been following along, you'll know that I tend to think about nutrition for student athletes differently.
PS - If you don’t regularly follow, you can do that easily at?Diane Johnson).
Because EVERYTHING in our body and mind (and with regards to our health) is connected.
And if that statement is too 'pseudoscience' for you, you can lean on the myriad of studies and research articles about the gut-brain axis; a well documented bi-directional communication network between the gut and the brain.
Inflammation, disturbances in the gut’s microbiome and nutrient deficiencies can all impact this communication pathway and subsequent gut and mind health.?
While this is actually a topic that affects millions around the world it is an extremely relevant topic for?our network of student athletes, sport parents and coaches.
Rates of mental health issues continue to skyrocket in student athlete populations. Sport programs are getting better and on-boarding all kinds of supports for student athletes to help them manage stress and anxiety. But very few are looking at food, the gut and the microbiome.?
And when it comes to IBS, I’d argue talking about s*#!’, diarrhea, gas, cramping and constipation is even more taboo than talking about mental health.?
(If there is one thing that I had to get comfortable talking about in my own journey, it's poop! If you need an ear that gets it, please message me.)
The good news is that because IBS and mental health challenges are correlated with disturbances in the gut microbiome, we can use food and lifestyle strategies to rebalance the microbiome, heal the gut lining and help student atheltes to feel great again.?
(At GUTS we are all about helping student athletes develop new food and lifestyle strategies so they can feel better and perform their best!)
1) Prebiotic Foods and Fiber
We spend so much time talking to student athletes about how much energy they need, we sometimes forget that as much as they need to fuel their body, they also need to fuel their microbiome. Sadly many of the fast and convenient carbohydrate foods student athletes lean on for energy can be quite damaging to the gut microbiome.?
(It's high time we invest in re-educating ourselves about what is healthy for us and what is hurting us.??
If you are passionate about this, I'd love to speak with you! Shoot me a message.)
When it comes to feeding a healthy microbiome, we want to consume lots of prebiotic foods that our beneficial microbes can feast on.
Prebiotics are special plant fibers (you can think about fiber if that is simpler) that act as food for human microflora. Adding more of these prebiotic foods in to our eating routine helps develop a more healthy microbiome and good bacteria balance in the gut.?
Here are some great prebiotic foods that student athletes can add into their regular eating routine.
(This kind of knowing is one step to changing nutrition. But habits need to change too and we help student athletes and parents do this at GUTS.)
2) Remove Highly Processed and Sugar-Laden Foods
While no one likes to focus on the things we may need to remove or reduce from our eating routine, the truth is that some foods typically consumed in large quantities by student athletes are hurting their guts, their microbiome, and their mental health.?
Think of a bucket that is full of holes that you keep trying to fill with water. You can pour all the water in the world into that bucket but if you don’t first plug the holes, the water will continue to leak out.?
This is how I think of diet modifications. Most often there are some foods that we need to take a break from? because they are hurting us.?
The interesting thing is that most student athletes will tell me quite confidently that they know that after eating ‘x, y, z’ they don’t feel well. They have a knowing about what is working and what isn't .
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However,?they continue to eat those things because:
Student athletes’ diets are typically high in refined carbohydrates (breads, buns, pastas, crackers, cookies, etc.) and sugary food and drinks.?
These foods increase inflammation in the gut and disrupt the healthy balance of microflora.?
While it may seem daunting at first to reduce or remove some of these foods, it is absolutely doable. Student athletes that work with us to make changes like this report feeling better much faster than they anticipated.?
(We help student athletes make these kind of changes all the time. If you need some help, email me at [email protected])
3) Exercise, Stress & THOUGHTS....Because Your Gut is Listening
Most understand the benefits of exercise on our overall health. And one might assume that because student athletes are so active that they’ve already checked off their ‘exercise box’.??
The thing is that for student athletes, exercise usually comes in the form of sport which carries its own set of unique stressors, pressures and even sometimes fears.?
And a lot of thoughts about all of it!
Student athletes can spend a great deal of mental energy thinking about:
Athletes tend to put a lot of pressure on themselves while talking to themselves on repeat, every day, in a way that they'd never speak to a friend.
We have to remember that the gut-brain axis is a two way communication pathway. While the gut sends signals to the brain, the brain also sends signals back to the gut. Therefore thoughts and feelings do not only impact the mind.
‘Butterflies in the stomach’ is a perfect and relatable example for student athletes about how their thoughts impact physical reactions in the body.?
Our cells are eavesdropping on our thoughts every moment of the day and one could argue that our gut microbes are doing the same. Dr. Masaru Emoto conducted experiments on water and found that positive words and intentions formed beautiful, symmetrical ice crystals while negative words directed at the water formed disorganized and asymmetrical structures.?
You can try a similar experiment with growing plants in your own home. Plants that are spoken to kindly tend to thrive while those who receive unkind messages directed at them do not.?
Mindfulness based practices are an extremely effective way for student athletes to learn to notice their thoughts which then makes it possible to begin to change them.?
So they can spend more time:??
In addition to reducing stress and the subsequent cascade of hormones that are released in the body, learning to think differently can directly impact the gut and the mind and should absolutely be a part of the healing process for any student athlete (or anyone in general) dealing with IBS.
If you’ve done any digging into my personal journey and experiences then you’ll know that this topic of gut and mind health are super important to me.
I wouldn’t be sitting here writing this if I hadn’t spent years suffering with Irritable Bowel Disease.?
And depression became a part of my reality while managing the pressures of sport administration.?
(I know how hard gut and mind health can be. If you need an ear, message me.)
If you are a student athlete suffering with painful, unpredictable guts and carrying heavy thoughts around with you day after day, I get it. Just know that you aren’t locked into this feeling for the rest of your life.
If I can change my diet, my thoughts, AND MY LIFE, so can you!?
When you are ready, there are a few ways that I can help you.
Until next week.
~ Diane