Oh Oh Oh What's Microbiome Got to Do, Got to Do with It?
Gut health. People are talking about it, but why? What is it? Why should you care about your gut health and what can it affect? Well, I am glad you asked.
You are never alone. Seriously. Your body is crawling with bacteria and fungi, but it is mostly on the inside, so there is no need to run to the store for Clorox. We need these bacteria and fungi to keep us alive. Welcome to the wonderful world of the human microbiome. It might not be as fun as the wonderful world of Disney, but it has a lot more impact on your day-to-day life than you might think.
comic credit http://www.birdandmoon.com/comic/feeling-lonely/
Every human you know and have ever met does not have all the enzymes to digest you eat food. You need the bacteria in your intestines (your gut) to break down the food into proteins, fats, and carbs so you can absorb them. These microbes (bacteria and fungi as mentioned above, which shall now be referred to as microbes as it is easier to type) also produce compounds like vitamins and anti-inflammatories that our DNA doesn’t have the code to make. You might have heard about anti-inflammatories before, but just as a quick review, you need anti-inflammatories to support your immune system's response to disease. They are like battle-hardened disease fairies that slay disease cells in epic battles. Pomegranates have lots of these fairies in them, which is why they are red as they are coming to your spoon, bathed in the blood of your enemies—like cancer. Pomegranates are also very healthy for your gut bacteria.
Where Do These Microbes 🦠 Come From?
Three-quarters of the microbes you got from your mama, but unlike the parts of her you wish she wouldn’t have shared, these helped you become a better version of yourself. Now, you had an uphill battle if you were born c-section instead of via your mama’s baby chute (i.e., her vagina). This is because the vagina canal is literally a baptism of necessary life-giving microbes. Babies born through cesarean section are more likely to develop allergies, asthma, coeliac disease, and obesity later in life.
Once these microbes are a part of us, we are their home; that is where the term microbiome comes into play. Your microbiome is made up of the microbes that live inside you and make your gut their home. They are the one group that doesn’t have an HGTV show and hopefully won’t ever because colonoscopies would not make good TV.
If you didn’t get a start on your microbiome from your mom, you still have one. We each typically ingest around a million microbes in every gram of food😧. The less processed, like a strawberry instead of strawberry jam, the more the food has good microbes. Our diet directly impacts which species thrive in our gut microbiome. If we change our diet from meat-eater to vegetarian or start eating more probiotics, like yogurt or sauerkraut, the gut bacteria also change.
The importance of gut health is widely discussed in the wellness space and by the medical professions involving poop chutes because we know that more gut microbes equal a healthier person. The benefit of eating foods that beef up your gut microbiome goes beyond just physical symptoms of less achy tummies. Evidence shows a link between imbalances of the organisms that make up the gut microbiome and several mental illnesses, including anxiety and depression.
Now you might be saying, “I believe that I will have less bloating or gas if I eat yogurt and less processed foods, but to think that I might be less likely to have depression is kind of a big leap.” I am glad you are questioning that, friend, because it means you might not believe everything you read. However, I try only to give you the facts from science because I am a nerd. The kind of nerd that wore sweatpants in high school because jeans were uncomfortable and wore them WAY before it was cool to wear loungewear as your outfit for the day. I was a trailblazer, but trailblazers are often misunderstood in high school. And now, back to your bacteria.
Here is why your gut microbiome would affect your chance of suffering from depression and anxiety. Your microbes do more than break down your food. Your gut microbiome makes serotonin, for instance. It doesn’t make all of it, but it does make 95% of it which is a lot, in my opinion. Serotonin is a big deal as it plays several roles in your body, influencing learning, memory, and happiness. It also helps with regulating sleep, sexual behavior, and hunger.
Your gut doesn’t just stop at making 95% of your serotonin. It produces the components your brain needs for other vital chemicals in your body. Your brain functions based on what you eat. Your children’s brain functions based on what they eat. The research on your gut microbiome still has much further to go. Science says it impacts more than just how often you suffer from gas and bloating.
Other Ways to BEEF UP Your Gut Microbiome
💤Sleep😴.
Sleep deprivation causes your gut microbiome to get out of sync, meaning it might have poor rhythm, like a white boy at prom. Sleep and wake cycles are essential for the gut microbiome to have time to reproduce, break down, and produce the hormones we need. Suppose you made the time to read my deeply educational, intermittently funny, and thought-provoking post on sleep. If you did, you would have a better understanding of what the circadian rhythm is. Here is a quick review for those who missed it: circadian rhythm is how your brain and body parts know when to release different stuff like hormones and chemicals. Cells in your body and the gut microbiome have their own little clocks regulated by the master clock, your brain. BUT your brain and the rest of the body can’t maintain the rhythm if you are a real jerkface and never give it the rest it needs.
When you change your sleep patterns to watch Netflix or stay up visiting with some friends or relatives, you are messing with more than just your ability to be pleasant in the morning. It turns out that your gut microbiome also has a circadian rhythm which it uses to regulate your metabolism. It turns out that when you allow other devices or people to keep you awake into the wee hours repeatedly over the years, you have a higher risk of developing type two diabetes and all the other things that require pills to control.
This happens because the body allows certain bacteria to overgrow when you don’t follow your circadian rhythm. As a bonus, the byproducts of making the bacteria that grow in response to sleep loss can make you feel fatigued. This is a very unfortunate buy one get one free that is most often the result of your live streaming services and social media.
Probiotic supplementation has been found to improve subjective sleep quality. BUT taking probiotics can’t take the place of you prioritizing your health and wellness so you can live fully. Sleep, at least 7 hours of it, is the one thing you can give your body that is free and helps it function at its best. Making sleep quality and the amount of sleep you get a priority can be huge for supporting a healthy gut microbiome.
💪Exercise🚶.
Exercise is the best medicine for improving our bodies. Exercise is taken sparingly because we often have an all-or-none approach. If I can’t work out for an hour, we won’t commit 15 minutes to exercise because it is just not enough. Life is also busy. We are in the car more, driving ourselves or the kids to different events. However, you are worth investing in yourself. If you struggle with figuring out how to start investing in yourself, check out this post AFTER you finish this one, of course. I wouldn’t want to leave you without understanding how exercise affects your gut bacteria. That would be a true travesty. Almost as much of a travesty as not knowing about the disease battle fairies living in pomegranates.
The more different types of bacteria and fungi you have in your gut, the better. If you have fewer types of bacteria in your gut, you have a higher probability of being obese and having lifestyle diseases like high blood pressure. The variety of microbiomes in professional athletes is incredibly diverse. We know this because we check out their poop samples (um, how do you think they can get a sample of bacteria that live in your intestines?). You don’t have to be an elite athlete to get a more diverse gut microbiome. Exercise promotes the growth and diversification of your gut bacteria for everyone. Exercising is like having a diversity and inclusion meeting for yourself regularly. Plus, there are other compelling bonuses.
Have you ever lacked the motivation to exercise? Just me? Okay, well, I guess it is just me. However, recent research has found in mice that it is possible to improve motivation to exercise by some species of gut bacteria. Those species of bacteria activate nerves that promote the desire to exercise. You get better bacteria and a better gut microbiome by exercise, so even if you don’t have the motivation, you will if you can take that 15 minutes to invest in yourself.
Ultimately, we don’t know all the benefits of having lots of bacteria inside us. I didn't even get a chance to mention many more amazing things that the gut microbiome can do for you. We do know what can give you more diversity in your gut microbiome is taking time to move your body and eat stuff like oatmeal, veggies, and fruit. Less diversity means you are more likely to be overweight, suffer from depression and anxiety, have diabetes, and have types of colon cancer. The best is yet to come when you can invest in yourself.
DIG (Get Deliberate, Get Inspired, Get Going) Deep Action Steps:
Get Deliberate: Decide how you will invest in yourself today. Will it be a five-minute walk? Maybe it will be one minute of air squats or eating a pomegranate to slay your diseases and strengthen your gut microbiome. You will not be able to live fully, whether your job is on the floor with a toddler or in an office, until you invest in your health and wellness.
Get Inspired: I personally take a lot of my vegetable preparation inspiration from vegans. Those people know how to cook some vegetables, especially my friend Maurita who turned me onto how easy and delicious it is to cook vegan. My husband especially likes vegan veggie dishes when he sprinkles them with a bit of bacon😏. Check out some vegan recipe websites or Pinterest for stellar ways to make vegetables taste like a main dish.
Get Going: Write down what day you will make your new investment in yourself. Don’t make it anything big. Small changes equal small wins, which steadily progress into big wins. Small and steady is the key to investing in your health.