What's Good Health Without Good Microbes

 

Hippocrates stated both “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food” and “All disease begins in the gut”. He lived in the late 300 B.C. era- long before we had crash diets, fad eating habits and a shocking misunderstanding of the relationship our body has with the food we consume, people knew that whatever it was in your gut was controlling the outside world.

            With that being said, lets talk about your microbiome, which is all of the bacteria that lives in your gut. As defined by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences:

The microbiome is the collection of all microbes, such as bacteria, fungi, viruses, and their genes, that naturally live on our bodies and inside us… they contribute to human health and wellness in many ways. They protect us against pathogens, help our immune system develop, and enable us to digest food to produce energy.

                       The microbiomes were first discovered in the mid-1880s by Austrian pediatrician Theodor Escherich. Then in 2007 The Human Biome Project was launched by NIH which was to understand and better categorize the human microbial flora. Since then multiple studies have been done and companies launched to try and figure out what exactly our microbiome is compose of and why precisely, it’s so important.

                        Arguably, there is no other system, that is more important than the gut and maintaining its health. After all, there are over 100 trillion bacteria living in your gut at this current moment, according to Dr. Steven Gundry. According to Dr. Gundry, we are less “human” than we are bacteria, and this is because of all those tiny organisms living in our gut.

                        This bacteria control just about every system in our body- they effect our mood, energy level, our immune system, weight loss. Really you name it and a disruption in the gut health can affect it.

First let’s look at Naveen Jain, founder of Viome, which was created to heal the microbial problem in the gut. In an interview with Jay Shetty, Jain stated that practically every disease and cancer in the body is caused originally by chronic low-grade inflammation.

Inflammation is an immune response, which is trigger by cell irritation (toxin, viral, or environmental related) aka something disturbing the cell which in turn illicits an immune response. So, what’s causing the cell to trigger the inflammation is what we need to get rid of to stop having that response. And why is this important: because pain is caused by inflammation. What we eat causes reactions in the body and if that reaction is inflammation, we walk around every day with constant pain.

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The amazing thing is however, we can change this, just by being diligent about what we consume. Dr. Terry Wahls, author of The Wahls Protocol, wrote her book after being diagnosed with MS and then healing from it! In an interview with Tom Bilyeu, she discusses how she was diagnosed with this disease that had no cure in the early 2000’s, and for the sake of her kids, she wanted to slow process as much as possible. Through years of trial and error with her own body, she went from being wheelchair bound and having chronic pain, to biking to work every day 20 years later. And she found her cure through food!

            In this same interview she discusses how to help people heal past their diseases, she initially takes them off sugar, dairy and gluten. When these foods are consumed, they all have an inflammatory response in the body. Now if we look back to the food pyramid we discussed last week, Dr. Wahls is suggesting we do the EXACT opposite of what the pyramid and plate are suggesting… It’s odd and it’s sad how little truly good information we are given as to how to eat healthy.

            From studies conducted at Harvard Medical School, they found that 90% of serotonin receptors are located in the gut. When we have a diet full of whole and real foods that react positively with those bacteria, we end up with a great mood and good digestion. The bacteria are happy, so we are happy. However, when we are eating lots of processed foods that are chock full of sugar and other garbage, those have a negative reaction with the bacteria. This is turn causes internal chaos which leads to not only that dreaded inflammation but can also make us feel depressed or anxious. 

 Taking probiotics can also help create internal gut balance. Probiotics are live microorganisms that are intended to have health benefits when consumed or applied to the body and the two most common types are Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium. Yogurt, kombucha, and Kiefer can be a way to introduce probiotics into your system, just be careful to check the label to make sure they are low in sugar. (Please note brands like Yoplait are practically nothing but sugar. Instead of helping your system you will be doing more harm, so be very conscientious of the sugar content.) Lactobacillus Acidophilus and fermented cabbages and other vegetables are fantastic ways to introduce bacteria into our microbial flora. Garlic, radishes and onions are also great ways to get probiotics naturally into your diet.

            If I can overstress nothing else through this 26-week marathon: take care of your gut! No matter what else you do, if your gut is in a state of disrepair the rest of your human will not be able to heal. When you start eating to please these bacteria you will notice positive results very quickly!

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