Knowing more about your gut health is always a sensible idea, as your gut health plays a crucial role in your overall physical and mental wellbeing, with a well-balanced gut helping support better brain, metabolic, and immune system health. So, naturally, you’ll want to know where your gut health stands and if you need to make changes to improve it.
The good news is that there are several ways of checking your gut health. You could do some simple tests at home, or you could investigate more deeply by sending a sample of your stool to a lab, which will give you clear, medical insights into what’s going on in your gut.
To learn more about your gut health and how you can check on yours, use this guide. You will learn:
The gut, also known as the gastrointestinal tract, is essentially the entire digestive system, and it runs all the way from your mouth, through your stomach, and to the anus. Its job is to break down food, absorbing all the necessary nutrients your body needs to function properly, and, of course, remove waste, which ends up as passed stool.
Gut health refers to the delicate balance of all the microorganisms that live inside the gastrointestinal tract, including bacteria and viruses. A healthy gut has a very diverse population of all of these microorganisms, and that’s called a good microbiome.
This all matters because the gut contains up to 80% of your immune cells. When you have a well-balanced microbiome, the gut supports better nutrient absorption, immune system health, and even mental health (as the brain and the gut are always in communication with one another). It essentially plays a role in your entire well-being, which is why knowing more about your gut health and how to improve it is such a crucial part of anyone’s wellness journey.
You don’t have to play any guessing games when it comes to your gut’s health, as there are several ways (many of them very easy) that will tell you exactly what’s going on. Or, at least, whether your gut is relatively healthy or otherwise.
The first way provides the most insight into your gut health.
You can order stool tests for gut health online (including from here at Repose Healthcare) to do it all from home, which gives you plenty of privacy. All you need to do is order the appropriate gastrointestinal pathogen PCR test, follow the instructions inside to collect a stool sample, and return to the lab using the prepaid envelope inside.
These stool tests analyse the stool, looking specifically for infections, inflammation, and overall signs of digestive function and malabsorption. They are key in diagnosing digestive issues.
It makes sense to do a stool test if you are showing signs of an unhealthy gut, such as diarrhoea, blood in the stool, or stomach pain; however, you don’t necessarily need to show symptoms to take control of your health by doing a stool test, as it can shed light on what’s going on inside.
Colon transit time refers to the length of time it takes for food to move through your digestive system. It’s an easy way to check gut health at home, as you just need to time it from when you eat to when you next pass stool.
The sign of a healthy gut is if you pass stool within twelve to twenty-four hours after you eat, as this is typically how long the food needs to be digested. If you seem to pass stool much earlier or later, that’s a sign something isn’t quite right, and it’s worth doing some further testing.
This one offers a super simple way to check gut health at home, as all you need is some apple cider vinegar. This test is used to see if you have low stomach acid.
All you need to do is drink one to two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar mixed with water before a meal (undiluted ACV can damage tooth enamel, so avoid that). Then, observe how your body reacts. If you experience:
A mild warming sensation: your stomach acid levels are likely fine.
No sensation at all: you may have low stomach acid levels.
Burning: You may have an inflamed stomach lining or high sensitivity.
Arguably, the easiest way to check gut health at home is by simply examining your tongue. Yes, your tongue can say a lot about what’s going on in your digestive system. Here’s what to look for.
A pink tongue: this is the sign of a healthy tongue. It should be pink and moist.
White coating: a white coating on the tongue may suggest you have either low stomach acid or too much yeast.
Yellow coating: a yellow coating indicates you might have an infection or inflammation in your digestive system.
Cracks: if you have cracks on the tongue, you may have chronic gut issues such as malabsorption. It could also signal dehydration.
Scalloped: if your tongue has teeth marks on the side, that indicates dehydration, inflammation, or certain nutritional deficiencies.
Another way to test your gut health at home is to visually examine your stool. Look specifically at the colour, consistency, and smell.
The Bristol stool chart is a useful tool for identifying healthy vs unhealthy stools. It includes seven types of stool:
1: Small, hard lumps that are usually hard to pass. Indicates constipation.
2: A lumpy sausage-shaped stool. Indicates constipation.
3: A sausage-shaped stool with some cracks. A healthy stool.
4: A smooth, sausage-shaped stool, slightly soft. A healthy stool.
5: Very soft blobs of stool that pass easily. Can mean diarrhoea.
6: Mushy stool. Can indicate diarrhoea.
7: Liquid – no solids at all. Indicates diarrhoea.
Anything but three and four indicates a problem. If your stool consistently indicates constipation or diarrhoea, you may have problems in your gut. Stool tests for gut health will help shed light on what is actually going on.
If you show any symptoms of poor gut health (which we will go into more below), it is important to track them, as this will give you insights into your gut health. Track symptoms like gas, diarrhoea, constipation, stomach pain, skin rashes, brain fog, and fatigue alongside the meals you have eaten that day. Over time, this should show you the types of foods that lead to symptoms.
Are you unsure whether it is worth learning how to test gut health at home? There are clear signs that you have poor gut health, including the following.
If you show any of these signs, doing a gut microbiome test is the most sensible step, as it’s the route to understanding your gut health more clearly.
Have you discovered that your gut health is less than perfect? Perhaps you are showing signs like bloating, diarrhoea, or skin problems and want to take control. If so, there are several impactful ways to improve your gut health, if you start doing these, remember to monitor your progress so you figure out what works for you. Keeping a diary stating your symptoms vs your meals is a great way to understand your gut better.
Your gut health matters more than you may have previously thought. Checking your gut health is a great way to understand what’s going on inside, and there are several ways you can do it, from simple tricks you can do at home to sending a sample to a lab for proper testing.
If you are worried about your gut health, perhaps because you are showing signs of an unhealthy gut, it is best to do a proper test to see what’s going on. From there, you can take steps to improve your gut health, from taking probiotics to exercising more to managing stress.
