Did you know that you are home to trillions of microbes? These microbes live on you and in you and they affect you, for better or worse.
They are mostly bacteria, plus yeasts, and also a few things like viruses, protozoa, and archaea. The complex ecology of these micro-flora is called your microbiome.
Their genetic material actually interacts with your cells, affecting how well you digest food, your immune function, your metabolism, and more.
You want the microbes that are part of you to be healthy ones that are actively working for your good. Not ones that cause inflammation and disease. Different people have different microbiomes depending on their lifestyle and food choices.
The vast majority of your microbes exist in your gut. Some live on other surfaces such as your skin. Gut bacteria are what we are focusing on in this blog.
There is a direct link between your gut and your brain. Some scientists have dubbed the gut "the second brain" because the connection is so strong.
For instance, if you eat a lot of sugar and refined carbohydrates, you will grow a lot of unhealthy yeasts in your gut that end up controlling you, making you crave more sugars because that is what they feed on. You think you need carbs, but it's actually these bugs that are not good for you sending chemical messages to your brain telling you to eat stuff that isn't good for you but IS good for them.
Americans who eat a steady diet of processed foods, took antibiotics a few times over the years, and don't regularly eat fermented foods, have unhealthy guts. This shows up all over our society. You see it manifested in things like:
obesity
irritable bowel syndrome
autoimmune diseases
thyroid issues
ulcerative colitis
Crohn's disease
rheumatoid arthritis
cardiovascular disease
anxiety and depression
reproductive difficulties
leaky gut syndrome
eczema
psoriasis
and more...
Having a healthy gut is not the only thing that matters to be happy and healthy, but it is a major factor. It's one that you have complete control over.
Your Gut is Like a Hamster Cage
How do you make sure that you have predominately good microbes and not bad ones? You just take probiotic tablets, right?
Well, think of your gut as if it were a hamster cage.
Imagine your kid wants a hamster. You go to the pet store and you buy an aquarium. You can't just put the little guy in an empty aquarium, so you buy rocks for the bottom, a plastic haunted house, fish food, and an aerator.
Lastly you let your child pick out the cutest hamster and the pet store employee puts it in a little cardboard box with air holes for the ride home.
You get home and set up the aquarium with the stuff to go inside, fill it up with water, turn on the aerator, sprinkle fish food on top, and plop the little guy in the water.
WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS STORY?
You just killed your kid's hamster! You set up the aquarium for fish, not for a mammal.
Taking probiotic pills while eating an unhealthy diet is just like plopping a fuzzy hamster in a fish tank. He might survive for a short time, but he isn't going to last long.
The good bacteria in the probiotic pills need the right kind of environment to survive. Otherwise, you are just as surely killing them as you are killing the hamster by putting it in the fish tank.
To have good microbes flourish in your gut, you need to eat the things that nourish a healthy gut. Good microbes don't grow on food that is bad for you. If you have unhealthy microbes, it's because the food you eat (or ate when you were younger) is bad. You would naturally have good microbes if you only ever ate good food and did not eat bad food, or take antibiotics.
Here is my blog that goes into detail about how to know what you should or should not eat for optimal gut health. In a nutshell, the idea is:
eat whole, unprocessed foods
make meals from scratch
read ingredients of everything you buy and if you can't pronounce the ingredients, don't buy it
Maple kefir from raw grass fed milk, the yummiest way to inoculate your gut with diverse beneficials.
Your Gut Can Heal
I grew up eating junk food, and my health reflected it. I had leaky gut syndrome. I was constantly sick and had strange symptoms that doctors didn't know how to fix.
Back in my 30's, I felt like I was slowly dying. I know that if I had continued down the path I was on, I would be in horrible condition by now.
The best choice I ever made, second only to marrying the world's greatest guy, was to take my gut health seriously. My entire life has improved drastically thanks to that decision.
It took time, but I did heal.
So can you.
Here are some changes you can make today to help your body begin healing:
eat only whole foods
avoid processed foods
find alternatives to antibiotics in all but emergency situations
if you must take antibiotics, eat fermented foods the whole time you are on them
use colloidal silver as an alternative to antibiotics
practice fasting which heals the gut and causes bad microbes to die while the good ones survive
eat fermented foods such as yogurt, sauerkraut, and kefir every day, which are natural probiotic powerhouses
avoid anything high in sugar or artificial sweeteners
eat bone broth from pasture raised animals, which is healing to damaged gut lining
Fermented veggies that supply natural probiotics.
The reason that I grow good food to sell is because I want others to experience the life changing benefits of being healthy that I have experienced. It is never too late to begin being healthy. The first step of being healthy is healing your gut.
It is hard to start new habits, but it's worth it! You can do this. And teach your kids to take good care of their bodies. If it's too hard to do it for yourself, at least do it for your kids.
The bacteria in you are affecting you, for good or for bad. Nurture good bacteria by making good choices.
Maple oven ribs from pasture raised pork made with an easy blend of real spices, no nasty chemicals.
Comments