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GUT HEALTH, RESILIENCE AND LEADERSHIP

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Nina Khoo, Speaker, Highly sensitive leadership

BY NINA KHOO

SENSITIVE LEADERSHIP COACH

Master NLP Coach, Creative Visionary and champion of women, Nina works with sensitive female leaders to fully understand and harness the power of their highly sensitive trait.

One of the stand-out presentations at a Conference for Sensitivity Research I attended recently was by Dr Shuhei Iimura on how highly sensitive people with low gut microbiota diversity (in other words an unhealthy gut) had higher inflammation levels.

Woman holds hands on stomach highlighting digestive system. Photo

This resulted in more gastrointestinal problems such as acid reflux, indigestion, abdominal pain, diarrhoea and constipation. Ouch!

Now, the first thing you need to know is that Highly Sensitive People (HSPs) are like the canaries in the coal-mine.

We (yes, I am one) are the First Alerters. Which means that what affects us will eventually affect the rest of our species, so even though this research was carried out on HSPs, it is relevant to non-HSPs too.

The Gut’s Role in our Health

There is more and more research coming out about the role of the gut in our overall health – on all levels – physical, mental and emotional.

These studies are finding that a healthy gut helps us perform better, especially under stress, by reducing inflammation and positively influencing attention, memory, perception and mood via the gut-brain axis.

On the flip side, having an unhealthy gut can trigger chronic systemic inflammation resulting in brain fog, anxiety, poor focus and fatigue.

Seems pretty obvious, doesn’t it? How can we work and lead effectively if we’re distracted by uncomfortable or painful stomach issues? Especially when they’re causing problems in the rest of our body too.

Is a Healthy Diet Enough?

The standard diet that most of us consume tends to be high in processed foods, added sugars, refined carbohydrates and unhealthy – trans and saturated – fats. It’s also low in fibre, fruits and vegetables.

Consider too, the alarming fact that our soil today is so depleted due to modern agricultural methods using excessive chemicals and fertilizers. The food we grow today contains a fraction of the nutrients compared to fruit and vegetables our parents and grandparents grew 40 years ago.

This means that even if we are eating the suggested whole-food, plant-based diet rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts and seeds, we would need to eat a lot more than the recommended 5-a-day guidelines that were set by the World Health Organisation in 2003 to get the same level of nutrition our grandparents received.

Recent guidelines tell us to aim for at least 7 portions a day, which may be enough – as long as your body is able to absorb the nutrients. And we’re back to the importance of having a healthy gut! Taking a high-quality pre-, pro- and post-biotic can help with absorption.

Group of friends partying in a nightclub and toasting drinks. Happy young people with cocktails at pub.
Photo of neatly packed lunch box filled with healthy food, including steamed rice and grilled vegetables, placed on a kitchen countertop, showcasing a nutritious and balanced meal in a clean and organized

Burnout and the Gut

Burnout isn’t solely to do with working too hard. It’s also about the brain and our body running out of resources.

If we eat a diet high in processed foods, our brains won’t get the support they need to recover from stress. The resulting poor nutrition leaves our bodies inflamed, resulting in low energy and an emotionally fragile state.

It’s worth remembering that what we eat plays a key role in either exacerbating or buffering us from stress and exhaustion.

I don’t know about you, but I find it’s so much easier to resort to quick and easy ‘comfort’ food when I’m busy. And when I’m tired, I reach for sweet foods and carbohydrates – exactly what my body doesn’t need!

This unhealthy pattern is what led to my own burnout experience 20 years ago. I’d work long hours, have a few drinks in the pub, pick up a take-away on my way home, then fall into bed in an exhausted heap, to catch a few hours of sleep before doing it all again the next day.

Unsurprisingly my body didn’t cope well with this.

Do You Have the Guts to Lead?

Given all the research and irrefutable findings on the link between a healthy gut and wellbeing, paying attention to our gut is crucial if we want to show up consistently in our work and make a difference in the world.

After all, how can we lead effectively if we’re suffering from gut-issues, brain fog and exhaustion?

So here are my 3 top tips for nurturing your gut so you can lead well – I wish I’d done these back in my corporate days!

  • Aim to eat as many different fruit, vegetables, herbs and spices as you can over the week. Think about eating the rainbow – the more colourful the better the nutrients.
  • Plan your meals and batch-cook in advance when you can – this will help prevent the I’m-too-busy-to-cook-something-healthy excuse when you have a lot going on.
  • Consider taking high quality supplements to support your gut and overall health. It’s not always possible to eat healthily, especially if you’re travelling, and good supplements will ensure you’re never running on empty.

If you’d like more simple, effective solutions to taking care of your gut and overall health so you can build resilience and lead sustainably, join me on one of my free workshops on using pure, essential oils.

Find out more here: https://www.ninakhoo.com/pureessentialoils

Resources

  • Individual differences in environmental sensitivity and gut health

by Dr Shuhei Iimura, 8 August 2023

  • Exploring the Influence of Gut–Brain Axis Modulation on Cognitive Health: A Comprehensive Review of Prebiotics, Probiotics, and Symbiotics

by Monika Fekete et al., 10 March 2024

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